You Can't Take The Sky From Me
by ComicKid99
Summary: S.H.I.E.L.D. is in the midst of dealing with two cases; a murderous Inhuman and the emergence of an organisation known as R.E.S.C.U.E. When a surprising link emerges, the team take risk after risk in the pursuit of answers. But the truth always comes at a cost, and this time the cost is a devastating one. Hints of Philinda, Static Quake, Fitzsimmons, Huntingbird and others.
1. R-E-S-C-U-E

**1: R.E.S.C.U.E.**

He didn't know had long he'd been running. All he knew was that he couldn't stop.

It was the dead of night; sweat soaked his skin, his vision was getting blurry and every muscle in his body ached. None of it mattered, though; he had to keep going. That _thing_ couldn't be far behind.

It had been chasing him for hours. Sometimes he could see it, sometimes he couldn't, but he still knew it was there; he felt a chill deep within his bones that told him he wasn't alone. He had to get away from the monster.

His salvation came as he sprinted across the fifth corn field in a row and saw a wooden hut at the end of it. Taking the risk, he stopped and looked behind him. Nothing. He looked in every direction in every angle. Nothing. Taking a deep breath and using the last of the strength he had in his body, he ran for the hut and slammed the door behind him.

There were hay bales scattered along the floor; he stacked them against the door and collapsed into a corner of the room, trying his best not to scream in agony as he gasped for breath. He found it funny that humanity seemed to take breathing for granted until they realise how much they've wasted their lives. He wiped the sweat off his brow with the sleeve of his dishevelled grey shirt and sat in silence, hoping the monster didn't know where he was and would give up its pursuit.

A few minutes went by, and all was silent.

He smiled. He'd done it; he was free. He thanked a superior being he didn't believe in that he'd made it out alive.

Then came a sound that left him paralysed and drained the blood from his face and fight from his heart - a long claw scratching the door of the hut.

The moonlight filled the small structure as the hay bales and door exploded into scraps as the creature kicked its way in. Now it was just the two of them, the man and the monster. The man looked at it in fear and acceptance; he knew his story was coming to an end. Sometimes the brave fight still isn't enough.

He _saw_ the creature for the first time as it approached his shattered and exhausted body. It was the size of an average human but with navy blue flesh and rock-like shards protruding from its shoulders, arms and spine. There was no way this beast could be human.

"Look at me."

The monster's words pierced his ears, the hushed but growling voice slicing through the air in its venomous nature.

"Look at me."

This time he obeyed, looking up at the monster standing above him. His hazel eyes met the jet black stare of the creature, and all he saw was darkness and death.

"You are Blake Newman. Confirm this."

He obeyed the creature's orders again, nodding his head in defeat.

"H-How do you know who I am?" Blake asked.

"A good hunter knows its prey." It hissed in retaliation, lifting its arm into the air as the four digits on its hand merged into a sharp point.

"Why me?" Blake asked, his eyes fixated on how the creature's greasy skin glistened in the moonlight.

"In your heart, you know." The creature hissed, plunging its pointed arm through Blake's chest like a knife to butter.

As Blake closed his eyes for the final time, he again saw the death in the monster's eyes and greeted it with open arms.

…

When Phil Coulson, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., walked into the briefing room, he was pleased to see all his team were there five minutes before he had told them to be. He knew that they could read the seriousness of the matter at hand by the way he'd announced the meeting the night before.

As he walked by the group of agents, he nodded to each of them one-by-one to show his appreciation for their attendance; Daisy Johnson, Joey Gutierrez, Lincoln Campbell, Melinda May, Alphonso 'Mack' Mackenzie, Leopold Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse.

Coulson pulled out the file he was holding under his arm and emptied the contents out onto a table before the agents, who examined the documents and photos in detail as Coulson observed.

"I'll be the first to say it – holy crap." Lance muttered as he looked at one photo showing the corpse of a man in a wooden hut with a bloodied hole through his chest.

"I take it this is the work of our Inhuman serial killer?" May wondered and Coulson nodded.

"We have to assume so. The way the victim was killed was identical to the body found three weeks ago." Coulson clarified.

"So that's two murders as well as the two attacks the Inhuman has been responsible for." Daisy added.

"Exactly. We know this Inhuman, which the media has nicknamed "Rage" due to the ferocity of its attacks, has been involved in four incidents. First was the murder of the still unidentified woman found in a middle of a wooded area by hikers a month ago. Then came the rampage at the middle school 30 miles from the location of the murder, injuring 25 people as it tore the place to pieces. Thirdly, it attacked a theatre performance another 23 miles from the school, injuring 123 and killing 2. And now this second murder, another 47 miles from the theatre catastrophe. The public know about the attacks but not the two murders; for obvious reasons it's hard to cover up a school and theatre collapsing in the centre of busy cities. The locations seem to be random and we can't find any links as of yet between the places the crimes took place nor the victims." Coulson explained.

"Have you managed to identify the latest victim?" Bobbi asked.

"Unfortunately not. It's the same circumstance as the female murder victim; no means of identification found on their person and no matches in any of our databases. We can't even put out appeals to find family because the President personally told me he doesn't want these murders publicised in any way at the present time." Coulson revealed.

"Let's just give the case to Sherlock Holmes and call it a day." Lance said.

"If only we could." Lincoln commented.

"He knows Sherlock Holmes is fictional, right?" Fitz whispered in Jemma's ear, who nodded with a smile.

"So no leads on the crimes, but what about the criminal? What do we know about this "Rage" Inhuman?" Joey asked.

"Only what eyewitnesses on the scenes of the school and theatre tragedies have given to the police and news channels. Alongside some very blurry images everyone witness has described "Rage" in the same way; oily, dark blue skin, rock-like shards protruding from the upper half of its body and black pupils." Coulson explained, reading off one of the documents from the folder.

"Not the kinda guy you want to meet in an alleyway at night." Lincoln said.

"Or in an alleyway during the day." Jemma added.

"All we know is that this Inhuman is dangerous and a serial killer with powers we can't fully explain or be certain we know of just yet. I'll be assigning half the team to find links between the crimes and begin hunting "Rage" down." Coulson announced.

"Only half of us? Why?" Mack questioned.

"Because unfortunately, a murderous Inhuman isn't S.H.I.E.L.D.'s only concern." Coulson said, pressing a pad in the centre of his fake hand which turned on a large holographic screen on one of the walls.

The team look on in confusion as a series of articles and news clips are projected onto the screen, including a video of the President shaking hands with a woman in a tight cream dress.

"Someone's not ashamed of their body." Daisy commented under her breath. Joey, Lincoln and May all heard the remark and gave out a slight smile (though May does her best not to let anyone see).

Coulson presses his palm again and the projections stop on a news article. The only word that stands out to everyone is 'R.E.S.C.U.E.'.

"What the hell is 'Rescue'?" Mack asked.

"Yeah, and is it an acronym or are the dots in between each letter to make it look cooler?" Lance asked.

"I'm impressed he knows what 'acronym' means." Jemma joked to Fitz, who gave her a wide smile.

"This morning the President made an announcement on national TV announcing he has given permission for a new organisation to be set up. Since we agreed S.H.I.E.L.D. should remain secret from the public, he's clearly decided to form a new unit for people to believe in instead." Coulson revealed.

"His charm knows no bounds." May remarked, shaking her head.

"Meet R.E.S.C.U.E., the Regional and Experimental Scientific Council of United Enterprises." Coulson said.

"Ugh, I hate it when they can't think of a way to name something without adding extra words that aren't part of the acronym." Fitz sighed.

"So what is it they're actually going to do?" Bobbi wondered.

"A very good question, and one the President seems to answer. According to his statement, R.E.S.C.U.E. aims to 'study the science behind extra-terrestrial beings and objects, including Inhumans, to develop technology to bring the world into a new age and make life easier for the human race. R.E.S.C.U.E. is coming to the rescue'." Coulson read out.

"Oh, he had me till that last line." Hunter winced.

"So, are the other half of the team gonna be investigating this organisation?" Joey asked.

"For the time being, yes. I don't like that the President didn't inform me about this beforehand, and a whole organisation appearing out of nowhere so suddenly? I don't buy it; this must've taken a lot of planning. I need a team trying to dig into R.E.S.C.U.E. as much as possible, as well as the founder and leader, Maya Anderson." Coulson answered.

"A.K.A. Little Miss Tight Dress." Daisy said.

"It's a nice dress." Mack commented, and all the men subtly nodded (except Joey), earning them all judging glares from the women.

"I just need peace of mind when it comes to organisations not associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. It's hardly surprising that I have trust issues these days. If Anderson and R.E.S.C.U.E. check out, we'll leave them be and focus all our energy on "Rage". I'll let you know how the team will be split shortly." Coulson stated and the group dispersed out of the room to get back to their stations.

"I'm impressed, you sound like you actually know what you're doing." May commented as she walked out.

"We'll see." Coulson replied solemnly as he followed her out.

Little did he know, he'd just set in motion a chain of events that would change everyone's lives forever.

…

 _THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE…_

" _Please, no! Just try again, one more time! Don't give up!" They cried desperately._

" _There's no heartbeat, I'm sorry."_

 _In an instant, the whole world came crashing down. They took the lifeless hand in theirs as more tears flowed._

" _Don't go. Not like this. Please! Please!"_

 _But they were already gone; their eyes, that would never blink again, looked upwards to their new destination. It was their time to join the stars._

" _Time of death, 11:35pm."_


	2. Maya

**2: MAYA**

After much delegation, Coulson had split S.H.I.E.L.D. into two temporary groups to tackle the cases of Rage, the murderous Inhuman, and Maya Anderson, founder of R.E.S.C.U.E., separately.

"I'll be heading the investigation into Maya Anderson, along with Daisy, Joey, Bobbi and Lincoln. May, Fitzsimmons, Hunter and Mack will begin finding leads on Rage. Joey, you have a lot of heart and can express your views on how Anderson intends to tackle Inhumans. Bobbi and Lincoln, you two have a lot of heart but I can trust you both to be impartial in this investigation. Daisy, as soon as you hack into everything we need to search through you'll join the others on the hunt for Rage. Once we find all we can we'll merge again. Dismissed."

With the two groups decided upon, Coulson introduced the first access point to his team.

"Alongside the President's announcement of R.E.S.C.U.E., the organisation launched a website. There's a page where you can anonymously contact the organisation with any questions you may have; could this be a way in?" Coulson suggested.

"It's worth a shot. I might be able to find some kind of network coding if they respond, but I imagine the site will be packed with curious - and scared - people." Daisy said.

"It's a start, see what you can do." Coulson ordered. Daisy nodded and headed to a computer.

"What else could we do? Is there a place we can physically get information?" Bobbi wondered.

"According to an interview with the news she did after the announcement, she claims to have degrees in Biology and Journalism but fell back on a job in marketing after having a kid." Lincoln revealed as he scrolled through his phone.

"Certainly sounds like a normal, non-robotic person." Joey commented.

"She has a family? That's a good lead. See what we can find online. Anything in archives, medical history, family tree…anything." Coulson said to Bobbi, who nodded and sat at a computer next to Daisy.

"Okay, I've sent a plea for information to their website hotline; we'll see if they respond. I also ran Anderson through our databases, but nothing. She's never come into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. before and has no criminal record." Daisy explained.

"Maybe it's just me, but she's coming across as pretty squeaky clean." Joey said.

"I'm running a video of her news interview through our dialect server; see if why can pinpoint where she exactly she was born." Lincoln said, now set up at a computer himself with Joey watching over him. Coulson stared at an image of Maya projected onto a screen in front of him curiously.

"What are you hiding?"

"Sir, the dialect server says she was born in Boston." Lincoln reported.

"I'll search for her in Boston newspapers in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Archives." Bobbi stated, quickly typing away.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, sir – why are you so worried about this? Isn't it a good thing that we have something to take the attention away from S.H.I.E.L.D. activities? That someone wants to make a difference?" Joey asked.

"I once said that about a man named John Garrett. Look him up when you get a minute. Daisy, anything?" Coulson said.

"Zilch. No reply from the website yet; I doubt we'll get one with the amount of attention R.E.S.C.U.E. is getting in the media." Daisy reported.

"Why don't you just call the President?" Bobbi asked.

"He'll be preoccupied today after the announcement. If he didn't tell me about this beforehand I doubt he wants to talk to me about it at all. The man's very hard to read." Coulson replied.

"Oh, man." Bobbi said sadly, causing everyone to face her.

"You got something?" Coulson asked.

"Something in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Archives. There's an article in page 17 of a little-known local Boston newspaper. Clearly it didn't get much coverage." Bobbi revealed.

"What is it?" Coulson wondered.

"The article was published just shy of a year ago. Says there was a local group of self-proclaimed 'street terrorists' calling themselves The Young Gods; they made their own law and order with hostage situations, small bomb scares and the like. Police never caught up to them. They murdered the husband of an open protestor to their crimes after she started an outcry against them on the news." Bobbi explained.

"The protestor being -"

"-Maya Anderson, yeah." Bobbi confirmed.

"She probably used contacts she made studying Journalism to get a spot on the local news outlets." Daisy said.

"They murdered her husband Glenn after following her home…and kidnapped her son, Kaiden. He was twelve years old." Bobbi said sadly.

"…Was?" Lincoln asked cautiously.

"When the police tracked him down, they'd already killed him." Bobbi said glumly. A sadness filled the room.

"What kind of monsters would kill an innocent child?" Daisy asked, disgusted.

"They called themselves The Young Gods; they clearly thought they could decide who lived and died. They wanted to teach Maya Anderson a lesson." Joey said.

"Sons of bitches." Lincoln cursed under his breath.

"She clearly learned a lesson they didn't want her too. Instead of shying away and giving in to their reign of terror, she must have used her contacts to meet the right people, meet the President under the radar and set up R.E.S.C.U.E." Coulson speculated.

"But what does the death of her family have to do with studying extra—terrestrials and developing new technology?" Joey asked.

"It has everything to do with it. She's trying to make the world a better place through R.E.S.C.U.E. to take power away from monsters like The Young Gods." Bobbi said.

"Yeah, I expect the newspapers only reported on The Young Gods briefly to avoid become their next target." Daisy said.

"No wonder Maya seems so determined in her interviews; she has a tragic force driving her every day. It must take her mind off the loneliness." Lincoln added.

"I'm gonna put it out there that I feel for the woman. She has valid reasons for doing what she's doing." Joey admitted.

"She certainly seems to check out so far." Bobbi said.

"Maybe. We'll have to dig a little deeper when we found out where R.E.S.C.U.E. are based." Coulson said.

"Coulson, I know you're not the best at trusting people and I get that completely, but she lost her husband and son. She lost everything. My gut's telling me she just wants to do the right thing." Daisy said.

"And I'd like to believe that. Even if Maya Anderson is innocent, there could be more to R.E.S.C.U.E. itself than meets the eye." Coulson said sternly.

"So, we'll keep our distance from Anderson for now?" Joey wondered.

"For now, yes. But if or when an opportunity to get a way into R.E.S.C.U.E. comes about, we'll be taking it." Coulson stated.

Suddenly, Mack entered the room with purpose.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we think we've got something on Rage." Mack declared.

"Really?" Coulson asked happily.

"Yep."

"What've you got?"

"We think we know where and when it'll attack next." Mack stated.

"When?" Coulson asked. Mack sighed heavily.

"About an hour and a half."


	3. The Hunter and the Hunted

**3: THE HUNTER AND THE HUNTED**

Coulson and Mack hurried into the lab, where the team investigating Rage had begun their work trying to track and learn more about the Inhuman. Gathered around the holotable projecting the image of a large map were May, Hunter, Fitz and Simmons. Mack and Coulson walked in and joined the group.

"Okay, so what did you find?" Coulson asked.

"Well, we _think_ that we found something." Fitz corrected.

"It's a shot in the dark, but it's the only lead we're gonna realistically get without waiting for Rage to attack or kill anyone else and being unable to stop it." May added.

"Okay, just tell me." Coulson ordered.

"Well, as you can see on the map the four Rage incidents have been marked. They're far apart from one another but they are all in this country. Which means we can conclude-" Simmons began.

"-Either the attacks are deeply connected somehow or Rage has no means of flight or teleportation in it's skillset." Fitz finished.

"Just a shame about the bad skin and sharp claws, huh?" Lance remarked.

"Okay, but you said you think you know where it will attack next?" Coulson asked.

"It's an educated guess, sir. There is surely a deep connection between Rage and the victims it murdered, but we have no leads on _that_ link yet, but we believe there is a link between the attacks at the school and the theatre." Simmons explained.

"We did some research into the theatre performance online. Turns out the audience members were all students on field trips. The only adults in the audience were teaching staff." Mack revealed.

"So, there was a heavy presence of children at the theatre -" Coulson said.

"-and at the school, for obvious reasons." May said.

"Rage is attacking places with a significant population of children?" Coulson speculated.

"That's what we think, sir. Which brings us onto this." Fitz said, pressing a button on the table and switching the projection to a newspaper article titled 'ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR'.

"We searched through this morning's papers in every town and city within the radius of Rage's previous attacks and came across this one." Fitz explained.

"There's a local amusement park having its grand opening today, and it's location is slap bang in the middle of the middle school and the theatre Rage attacked. Could be a coincidence, but it's something. Plus, opening day at an amusement park? There'll be thousands of kids in danger; if Rage does make an appearance, that is." Lance said.

"But it wouldn't be wise to take the risk of not keeping an eye on it." May added.

"Agreed. When did you say it opens?" Coulson asked.

"An hour and twenty-five minutes. It'll take about half an hour by jet." Mack answered.

"Okay, we'll all scope the scene just in case. I can't risk the whole team in case this lead goes nowhere; I'll leave the other team to continue researching Maya Anderson where they can. Fitzsimmons, see if you can find a way of detecting if Rage is present when we get there. Mack, Hunter, May, we'll all be on constant surveillance of the park; if Rage does attack, it'll wait for a little while for the people to pile in. Hopefully that'll give Fitzsimmons some time to warn us if they can detect it." Coulson explained. Everyone nodded in understanding and headed off to get ready. Simmons stayed put, which Fitz picked up on.

"You okay, Simmons?" Fitz asked.

"What kind of a monster would attack innocent children without a second thought?" Simmons asked sadly. Fitz placed a supportive hand on her shoulder before the two headed off to join the others.

…

"Okay, we're about five minutes away from our location. Everyone has an earpiece to contact one another with, and be sure to stay alert. Fitzsimmons will be positioned in the very centre of the park, the Ferris wheel, with the Inhuman tracking device they've been putting together." Coulson explained.

"It might not work; it's still in it's prototype stage. It carries out a scan and can detect the slight difference in the blood of Inhumans at the cellular level. We used a sample of Daisy's blood for it to use as a base, but we have no idea of the range it works out yet. We can only hope." Simmons elaborated.

"It's better than nothing. The rest of us will patrol the other sections of the park. Keep in constant contact; we don't know if Rage can disguise it's appearance, should it show up at all." Coulson said.

Coulson headed to the front of the plane and joined May, who was piloting. He looked back and saw Mack and Hunter examining their weapons while Fitzsimmons were talking over each other while examining their device.

"You sure it was wise to leave the others back at HQ?" May asked, still looking straight ahead.

"This operation is based on a theory; I can't risk wasting everyone's time when they could be using it more effectively." Coulson said.

"But what if Rage is here?" May asked.

"Then I have three of my best shooters and my two best scientists on hand to contain it. Have some faith, Melinda." Coulson smiled.

"I'm not questioning your judgement, Phil, don't worry." May said.

"You kinda were, though." Coulson added playfully.

"Well if one of us gets an Inhuman claw to the face, don't say I didn't warn you." May retaliated.

…

Within fifteen minutes, the team had landed and set themselves up in the park after using their credentials stating they were Park Inspectors (faked curtesy of Fitz) to gain access before the park opened to the public. With everyone in position, they all braced themselves.

"I'm sweating like a pregnant nun." Lance sighed into his earpiece.

"That's what you get for wearing a leather jacket whatever the weather." Mack smirked in reply.

"Focused conversation when talking through the airwaves, people." Coulson said as he looked around the space.

The park was an impressive spectacle of colour, light and music. It was an enormous space filled with booths, rollercoasters, rides and everything you'd expect a theme park to be. It reminded him of when he was a little boy and always loved riding on rollercoasters. It gave him a thrill in the same way field missions do. But soon it would be filled with people who could be in danger; but it was a theory – even if they'd had the time to contact the correct authorities to delay the park's opening, they had little evidence to support their claims that people may be in danger.

"Fitzsimmons, anything showing up on your device?" Coulson asked.

"Nothing as of yet, sir." Came the reply from Fitz.

"Let's hope it stays that way." May said calmly.

As opening time drew nearer, the team braced themselves for what lay ahead of them, if anything did at all.

…

"Bobbi and I went to an amusement park once. We'd barely known each other a month. She'd tell you that I threw up on the teacups but I promise that's not true." Lance rambled an hour later. The park was packed with excited adults and plenty of children, but everything was calm and there wasn't an Inhuman in sight.

"Fitzsimmons, anything yet? There's only so much of Hunter's voice I can take." Mack wondered.

"Not yet." Simmons stated. She took out her earpiece and turned to Fitz, who was holding the device high up into the air, earning a few confused looks from passers-by.

"I'm not sure the device even works. Fitz, what are you doing? It's not a mobile phone!" Simmons exclaimed.

"Practicality, Simmons. Practicality." Fitz replied, continuing to wave the device in the air.

"It's been an hour; the park's not gonna get busier than it is now. I think it's safe to say this lead's gone cold." May suggested.

"Ten more minutes then we'll head back to the jet." Coulson stated as he continued to walk around. He couldn't help but feel a sense of looming dread, but he was sure it was just him being paranoid.

"Well, crap. That's the only lead we had and it had all the effectiveness of writing 'Rage' on a flag and having it about for an hour." Lance groaned.

"We'll find a new lead somehow." May said.

"I bloody hope so. I'm quite shocked Rage didn't turn up, if I'm honest; I've never seen so many people crammed in one place. The consumer market at its worst." Lance sighed.

"Fitzsimmons, start packing up. Rage isn't coming here today." Coulson said.

"Yes, sir. At least this means there's a chance our device does work. It could've detected a false reading." Fitz pointed out.

"I don't know if I'm disappointed Rage didn't show or not." Simmons stated.

"I know what option I prefer." Fitz said.

"Of course I do; you're never one to want conflict." Simmons smiled.

"Quite right to. If I could speak to Rage right now I'd thank him for not showing his face." Fitz grinned.

Suddenly – a scream. Everything stopped. Soon, another scream. And another. A group of people ran past Fitz and Simmons looking terrified. Then another group rushed by, and more and more followed suit.

"Guys, something's not right." Simmons said into her earpiece.

"What do you mean?" Coulson asked.

Fitz and Simmons watched in confusion as hundreds of people started screaming and rushing past them towards the park entrance. In the middle of the terrified crowd, they could make out a large, dominating figure.

The blood drained from Fitz's face as he made out the outline of a large creature with spikes on the top half of its body.

"Jemma?"

"Yeah?"

"Our device doesn't work."

They watched as Rage let out a ferocious growl, hitting people out of its way as if they were made of polystyrene. It's jet black eyes brought out a fear in Fitz and Simmons that they hadn't felt in a long time.

"It's here. Rage is here, by the Ferris wheel! I repeat, Rage is at the Ferris wheel!" Simmons shouted into her earpiece as she took Fitz's hand and moved him backwards. They both got out a gun and pointed it at Rage, who barely seemed to notice them there; it was looking through the crowds of petrified people running all over the place. There was intensity in its eyes like it was searching for something, or someone, in particular.

Almost out of fear and without thought, Simmons took a shot at Rage. The bullet bounced off it like a smooth pebble skims the water. Rage faced Simmons and _roared_ as it edged closer and closer towards her, it's hand merging together to form one sharp point.

"Well, at least that explains the clean hole through its victims' chests." Simmons said, trying to use positivity to drown how utterly terrified she was. Fitz rushed in front of her, holding his gun at Rage's face.

"Stay behind me." Fitz said. Rage advanced further and further towards them.

"Who are you?" It hissed.

"You can talk?" Fitz asked under his breath in disbelief.

A small rumbling came from the distance before a silver convertible roared onto the scene and smashed into Rage, sending it flying across the park. The window lowered and Mack leant out towards Fitzsimmons.

"You two okay?" Mack asked.

"Yeah. Where'd you get the car?" Fitz wondered.

"You could win it in a booth on the other end of the park. I borrowed it." Mack smirked.

"MACK!" Simmons screamed as Rage leaped through the air and onto the car roof. It jumped off and growled loudly as it picked up the car with ease and threw it at the Ferris wheel with Mack still inside.

"MACK!" Fitz shouted before taking more shots at Rage to no avail. The car crashed into the wheel with a loud bang as the glass windows and windshield smashed into hundreds of shards.

Rage faced Fitz again and ran for him, lifting its arm high to take a swing at him.

"LEO, NO!" Simmons wailed as Rage smacked Fitz in the chest and sent him hurtling into a wall, where he fell to the floor with force. Simmons rushed over to him as Rage was hurtled with more and more bullets as Coulson, May and Hunter arrived at the scene.

"What do you want? Help us understand." Coulson demanded as Rage faced him. It stayed silent but remained staring into Coulson's eyes intently.

"You have felt so much pain." Rage said with a deep voice.

"Who hasn't? Now why have you killed people? Why attack innocent children?" Coulson asked, his anger growing rapidly.

Rage looked around and saw that by this point the park had been practically cleared out during the confrontation. He looked back at Coulson and the others and, without saying a word, turned away and began to walk.

"We're not done!" Lance exclaimed, taking another useless shot at the creature.

"Yes we are." Rage exclaimed before leaping out of side, leaving a huge crater in the floor.

"Something tells me this was opening and closing day." Lance commented under his breath as May rushed towards the crashed car. Coulson headed for Simmons, who was crying as she held Fitz.

"He's out cold." She sobbed as Coulson knelt down and wiped some blood off of Fitz's forehead.

"Is he okay?" Lance asked worriedly as he joined them.

"I think he will be. What about Mack?" Coulson asked. Lance turned to see May helping a bloodied and battered Mack stumble out of the vehicle and limp towards the others.

Coulson looked at the injured Mack and back at the unconscious Fitz, his fury threatening to devour any good left in him completely.

…

Most of the flight back to HQ was silent. Coulson called ahead to make sure a team was set up to treat Fitz and Mack as soon as they got back. He watched as Lance held an ice pack to Mack's head while Simmons tended to Fitz on an in-built table at the back of the craft. He'd come to a few minutes ago.

"I feel sick." He groaned.

"You've got a bad concussion, Leo. Try not to move." Simmons said gently.

"You only call me Leo when you're worried about me." Fitz smiled in his disorientated state.

"Not true. I'm always worried about you." She smiled back as Coulson approached them.

"Who're you doing, Fitz?" He asked.

"Fine so long as I don't move my head. Or my arm. Or my chest." Fitz replied.

"Look at this." Simmons said, carefully lifting up some of Fitz's shirt to reveal a large bruise across his stomach.

"Poor thing really took a beating." Simmons added.

"Rage must be incredibly strong." Coulson commented.

"Don't I bloody know it? That stupid, giant, ugly Smurf monster." Fitz grumbled.

"How's Mack?" Simmons asked.

"Cuts and bruises. You know him, he'll be fine. Somehow Fitz came off worse." Coulson said.

"Just my luck." Fitz moaned.

"I'll prescribe him some medication when we get back to base." Simmons said.

"I'm sorry I put everyone in this much danger; I couldn't risk the whole team wasting their time if Rage didn't show." Coulson said sadly.

"One good thing came of it." Simmons said, picking up a small plastic bag from the side and handing it to Coulson. Inside he saw three long blue strands.

"They were wedged into Fitz's jacket. They must've come off Rage when he hit Fitz; we can get a DNA sample from it, see what we can find out." Simmons revealed.

"Well, that's something." Coulson said, doing a terrible job of hiding his sadness as he headed back to the front of the plane, gently placing a hand on Mack's shoulder as he went.

"What the hell was that thing?" Mack asked.

"Who knows, mate. Who knows." Lance sighed.

Coulson sat in the chair next to May in silence for a few moments.

"You can say 'I told you so' now." Coulson said glumly.

"I don't want to." May said.

"I knew Rage was powerful, but…but _that_ powerful?" Coulson exclaimed.

"Don't put this in yourself; we're all guilty of underestimating it." May stated.

"I should've been more careful. What was I thinking putting Fitzsimmons alone in the field like that?" Coulson wondered.

"Fitz is gonna be okay, he just needs a few days to rest. We'll get Rage soon, I know we will. There has to be justice for this." May said.

"There will be. I can promise everyone that." Coulson stated passionately.

The jet continued to soar through the air towards S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, leaving everyone deep in thought at the day's events so far. Rage was a bigger threat than any of them possibly imagined, and possibly a threat too much for them this time.

Little did they know, the worst was yet to come.


	4. The Missing Link

**4: THE MISSING LINK**

A few days passed before Coulson mustered the courage to walk out of his office and face the team again. No one blamed him for the events with Rage at the amusement park, but he blamed himself. He'd been careless when making decisions; Mack and Fitz's injuries were his fault.

He headed for the lab first; the DNA that could be retrieved from Rage's hair sample could be vital in learning more about the monstrous being. As Coulson walked in, he saw Fitz sat in the corner tinkering with a D.W.A.R.F. while Simmons was looking through a microscope and taking notes on something. She looked up in time to see Coulson approaching.

"Afternoon, sir. Nice of you to show your face." She said sincerely.

"How's Fitz?" Coulson asked, leading Jemma to look back at him and smile as he dropped the D.W.A.R.F. in his lap and cursed under his breath.

"A bit shaken, but recovering nicely. The medications put him in better spirits after he spent that first day moping in bed." Simmons revealed.

"I signed him off for a week; why's he here?" Coulson wondered.

"I did tell him he needed to rest, but he's been itching to get back to work for the last day or so. I made a deal that he could work in the lab but he had to stay sat the whole time." Simmons said.

"What about Mack?" Coulson asked.

"He's fine. The cuts are healing and the bruises are getting better. They'll both be okay soon enough."

"Any luck with the hair from Rage?"

"Fitz and I started analysing it today; I've been so caught up in aiding Fitz's recovery that there hasn't been much time to spare. I'm looking at it here. The hair is thicker and denser than a human's; it shares a lot of the properties of wire." Simmons explained.

"Did you manage to get any DNA from it?" Coulson asked hopefully.

"The good news is, yes we did."

"And the bad news?"

"It doesn't match any files on our record, nor that of any criminal database. We're just lucky it doesn't know who we all work for; I'm pretty sure we made an enemy of it the other day. We've added the DNA into our files, so at least we can build up more of a portfolio for Rage." Simmons revealed.

"Okay. What did the DNA show?" Coulson asked. Simmons lit up with excitement as she switched on the holotable, which projected the double helix of Rage's DNA across the room with incredible detail.

"Oh, are you showing him the DNA?" Fitz asked happily, going to sit up.

"You stay right where you are, mister." Simmons said sternly, pointing her finger at Fitz until he sat back in his chair.

"Yes, mum." He grumbled.

"I'm no expert, but that looks pretty messed up." Coulson concluded.

"'Messed up' isn't the scientific term, but yes. The coding of standard human DNA is present, but there's another layer on top of it, like the DNA strand was coated with another set of DNA after terrigenesis." Simmons explained.

"So, could Rage switch between the two sets? Changing back to human form to Rage form and vice versa?" Coulson speculated.

"We certainly can't rule that out yet." Simmons said.

"Tell him about the changing properties!" Fitz shouted from the corner.

"I'm just about to, Fitz!" Simmons shouted back.

"What changing properties?" Coulson asked.

"While the genetic coding of Rage's DNA is consistent, the properties of it are changing and evolving. More and more coding is being added at regular intervals and replacing older segments. I feel like I recognise the process somehow but I can't put my finger on what. There also seems to be an extremely low level of radiation present." Simmons explained.

"So the DNA is what? Repairing itself?" Coulson questioned.

"That's one possibility, but without carrying out more tests we can't be sure. Bullets seemed to bounce of it with ease; I don't think we hurt it a bit the other day so I don't know why the DNA would need to repair anything." Simmons answered.

"Okay, well keep going with it. Good work, guys." Coulson said and headed out.

"Simmons, can I get off the chair now?"

"No."

…

"Whatever Rage's DNA is doing, it's unlike nothing I've seen before, and I've sat through a LOT of Fitzsimmons ramble sessions." Coulson said as he spoke to the rest of the team in the conference room.

"So, you're saying we're dealing with the most powerful Inhuman we've ever encountered?" Lance asked.

"I'm afraid so." Coulson replied.

"Brilliant." Lance remarked, making two thumbs up as Bobbi rolled her eyes at him.

"We severely underestimated Rage. He needs to become our top priority now." Coulson announced.

"What about Maya Anderson and R.E.S.C.U.E.?" Lincoln asked.

"On the backburner for the time being. If any leads present themselves, follow them. If not, focus your attention on Rage. Scour the internet and local knowledge for news of any further attacks. We can't let it run free for much longer." Coulson responded.

"Well, as a matter of fact we do have a lead on that." Daisy announced.

"Go on." Coulson prompted.

"R.E.S.C.U.E.'s site crashed with the number of people contacting them with worries and concerns. In response they've set up an event in Washington D.C. tomorrow for the press to ask any questions to R.E.S.C.U.E. employees in order to ease the public on their news channels or their papers. Mack and I can go and see if we can dig up some dirt on their motives. If we're lucky, Anderson might show her face." Daisy explained.

"Give Mack a bit of a rest; he's still recovering from Rage's attack. Take Joey with you instead. Get Fitz to make some fake IDs for you and get you on the invite list then take a jet tomorrow morning – he's been itching for something to do. Make a Scottish man happy." Coulson said.

"That'd be a first." Lance chuckled.

…

The following day, Daisy and Joey flew to the centre of Washington D.C., where a large white tent plastered in the R.E.S.C.U.E. logo had been set up and cordoned off from the public. Daisy and Joey showed their falsified IDs to the guards outside and entered the facility.

Inside, rows and rows of desks were positioned everywhere, each with a computer and a R.E.S.C.U.E. employee sat by it. On the opposite sides of the desks, reporters and officials were sat interviewing R.E.S.C.U.E. and getting any information they desired for their reports.

"They organised this super fast. It's all so…flashy." Joey commented.

"Good thing is, where there are so many computers, they'll be a server room - probably at the back of the tent. You do some interviewing and I'll try and sneak in and see what I can download onto the USB in my pocket." Daisy ordered.

"You got it. Just remember I'm still pretty new to all this." Joey said nervously.

"You'll be great. And remember, no powers. We don't wanna draw attention from the company set up to study us." Daisy added.

With that, the two headed off to work. Joey sat at the nearest empty desk, giving the R.E.S.C.U.E. employee a smile as he shook their hand. Daisy pulled out her phone and started taking photos, telling nearby bodyguards she was getting shots for her newspaper article. Making her way backwards as she continued taking photos, she waited for the split second no one was looking before practically leaping into the section at the back of the tent.

Her eyes were greeted by cabinets containing expensive looking equipment, blinking lights and the light hum of electricity running through everything. The sound reminded her of Lincoln somehow, though she'd never tell him that. She wouldn't tell him how she smiled at the thought either.

Quickly examining the equipment, Daisy located an empty USB port and plugged in the device she'd brought along. Pressing a button on the side of it, it began copying any information stored in the servers onto the device – S.H.I.E.L.D. technology at its finest.

"I've missed this." Daisy whispered with a smile.

After a few moments, Daisy removed the device with a satisfied look just as a R.E.S.C.U.E. worker walked in.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

Daisy turned and face them with an exaggerated smile.

"I'm so sorry; I was looking for a bathroom!" Daisy said with an over the top American accent.

"We don't have one here. Who do you represent?" The worker asked.

"I'm Karolina Jonas from the D.C. Gazette." Daisy lied, handing her fake ID to the worker for them to inspect. After a moment, they handed it back to her.

"Never heard of that one." They said.

"We're pretty low-key." Daisy smiled.

"You weren't messing with anything were you, Miss Jonas?"

"No, no. Of course not. I wouldn't know the first thing about any of this." Daisy laughed.

"So you wouldn't mind if I asked you to empty your pockets?" The worker demanded. Daisy took a moment then nodded, pulling out a small notepad, pen and a stick of gum from her pockets, patting them to show there was nothing else in there.

"…Uh, well, you can't be in here, ma'am." The worker stated.

"Right. Sorry. I guess I can hold it." Daisy chuckled before rushing out. She hurried over to where Joey was sat at one of the desks chatting away to a R.E.S.C.U.E. worker and making notes. He noticed her approaching then held out his hand to them with a warm smile.

"I think that's everything I need. Thank you for your time." Joey said before heading off with Daisy.

"How'd it go?" Daisy asked as they exited the tent.

"She seemed nice enough. Most of her answers were clearly coming from text on the computer; clearly they've been told what they can and can't say. Maybe they're rusty since they're a new organisation or maybe it's dodgy. Honestly, I was just babbling; I can't remember half of the questions I asked her." Joey explained.

"But you were making notes?" Daisy wondered.

"I was drawing a bunny." Joey admitted.

"Well, I managed to download information from their servers, so we'll see if they've got anything juicy stored in their databases. Nearly got caught though." Daisy explained.

"So they didn't find your USB in your pocket?" Joey asked.

"I didn't have time to put it back in my pocket." Daisy replied.

"Where'd you put it?"

"Let's not go there."

…

That evening, Coulson was sat in his office flicking through files on his personal holotable when May walked in.

"What's all this?" May asked.

"Files Daisy managed to get from R.E.S.C.U.E.'s servers." Coulson answered.

"And?"

"There's only one encrypted file; Daisy didn't have time to hack it while she was there but she thinks she'll be able to get in with time. The rest is limited – they're just setting up so don't have many files yet – there are reports on known Inhuman incidents know to the media and personal intel. Every employee checks out, no criminal records and they passed all the thorough background checks we went through. As far as we know, R.E.S.C.U.E. is clean. No dirty secrets." Coulson explained.

"Well, isn't that a good thing?" May asked.

"Of course, it's just…doesn't it all seem _too_ perfect? Too clean? I don't know, I'm just getting this aching feeling that I'm -"

"-Missing something?" May finished. Coulson nodded.

"Something obvious. Like there's a missing link they I should be able to see. I feel it in my gut."

"I've been feeling that way too." May admitted.

"Rage, Anderson, R.E.S.C.U.E., this is all coming at us at the same time. Am I insane for thinking it can't be a coincidence?" Coulson asked.

"Probably." May said, giving a short smile.

"Maybe I'm just getting too old for this." Coulson chuckled.

"I think we're all too old for this. Maybe we need a break." May said.

"I don't see a break coming anytime soon." Coulson sighed.

"I do. We're going to get out of this office and have a coffee with our team. No arguments." May stated.

"I've learnt that I an argument with you is never an argument." Coulson smiled.

"Because I always win?"

"Because you always win."

Coulson offered his arm to May with a smile. She took it and the two headed out of Coulson's office towards the nearest coffee machine. Even if it was only for five minutes, a break could do them all the world of good.


	5. Old Wounds

**5: OLD WOUNDS**

It took another week for a new lead to present itself.

The team were gathered in the briefing room, mumbling to themselves as Coulson adjusted his tie in the reflection of the metallic wall.

"Okay, I know things have been slow over the last few days but things are promising. Fitzsimmons are still working on analysing Rage's DNA and Daisy's making progress accessing the encrypted files we took from R.E.S.C.U.E.'s servers. That leaves one thing; more specifically, one person. Even more specifically, one _woman_ : Maya Anderson." Coulson began before going over a sheet of paper in his hand.

"Well, I'm happy to report we have something else to go on as far as she's concerned. We know her background, but we don't know how it shaped her. Something's not right; the way she and R.E.S.C.U.E. appeared out of nowhere concerns me. Anyway, I received a personal invite from the President last night to a top secret conference regarding Inhumans. Apparently R.E.S.C.U.E. arranged it with him, and Maya Anderson herself is on the guest list. The trouble is, I won't be going but I'm sending in a team to get some alone time with her and see how she fares." Coulson elaborated.

"Why aren't you going?" Lincoln asked.

"The President invited me, all of S.H.I.E.L.D., because he knew I would have my concerns about everything with R.E.S.C.U.E. and he wants it to seem I have nothing to fear. If I go and try to get information from Anderson myself he'll intervene. Since S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the invitation I can send a small group in my place, someone he recognises to make it look like we're not too suspicious, and people the President hasn't met nor have public knowledge of. Daisy and Joey will be going as yourselves and keeping up appearances; Bobbi and Hunter will be going separately and undercover, so it's up to you two to get anything you can out of Anderson. You leave in 4 hours; the President always sends out invites at short notice so no details can leak to the press or someone worse." Coulson explained.

"Sounds good to me." Bobbi nodded.

"Everyone else, do any work you may have left to do; if not, help Fitzsimmons in any way you can or look for more leads on Rage." Coulson ordered and the group dispersed.

"Sir, can I have a word with you?" Mack asked as the rest of the team headed out.

"Sure, Mack. What's up?" Coulson wondered.

"I just wanted to ask you what the hell it is you're playing at?" Mack said sternly, leaving Coulson shocked and confused.

"I'm sorry?"

"I can't be the only one noticing that you seem desperate to stop the whole team working together and getting out in the field looking for leads. I mean, May's one of the best goddamn fighters out there and she hasn't been out in the field yet." Mack said.

"You shouldn't be speaking to me like this." Coulson fought back.

"And yet I am. What's going on with you, sir? I'm asking as an agent _and_ as a friend." Mack said calmly. Coulson took a moment then sighed.

"My gut's telling me I'm missing something and it's eating away at me. I'm not used to being in a position where we've spent so long on something and not gotten the answers. I can't risk the whole team on a mission unless there's an absolute certainty there's a threat to contain. The last time I made a gamble like that you and Fitz ended up seriously injured. I underestimated what we dealt with when it came to Rage and I can't make the same mistake with this. I'm sick of losing people." Coulson explained sadly.

"Look, we've all got old wounds. We're agents, sometime soldiers; we all have our scars but we move past them. I'm fine, Fitz is fine, and you should know by now we always get the answers we're looking for. Any losses aren't on you, Coulson." Mack said, placing a firm hand on Coulson's shoulder.

"I wish I could agree with you." Coulson said with a sad smile; Mack knew he shouldn't push any further and went to walk away before turning back quickly.

"For the record, we can all look after ourselves. You'll do well to get rid of me." Mack chuckled as he left. Coulson smiled again, but only for a few seconds before the frown he'd become far too familiar with returned.

…

Hours later, Bobbi and Lance arrived at the co-ordinates on Coulson's invitation; it was a stately manor house that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. As they headed towards the heavily guarded entrance, Lance had a huge smile plastered on his face.

"I love it when Fitz lets me come up with my own fake name for my cover." He smiled.

"And you had to choose to be Doctor Ben Watson? Seriously?" Bobbi asked.

"I'm Doctor Watson! Come on love, that's funny!" Lance grinned.

With their IDs successfully granting them access, the pair entered the room and were met with a huge mass of people, all in groups and quietly talking. Out of the corner of her eye Bobbi noticed Daisy and Joey making light conversation with some government officials and gave a slight nod towards them.

Eventually, a suited man stood on a platform in front of everyone and the chatter died down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our honoured guest, Miss Maya Anderson."

There was an applause as Maya herself entered the room in a long, navy blue dress and took to the platform herself.

"Thank you everyone. Unfortunately, the President was unable to attend tonight due to – well, apparently I'm not of a high enough security level to be told why – but he sends his regards. Mr President and I organised this conference with you all as you all represent companies and organisations that I, on behalf of R.E.S.C.U.E., would look to work with some day. But to check potential compatibility, we need to debate the Inhuman problem and see if we're on the same page." Maya announced, leaving a sense of anticipation in the room.

"I don't like her." Daisy whispered to Joey.

"You know what? I've already made a mistake. I called it the 'Inhuman problem', but that's not true. Inhumans may just be the solution to our problems; their extraordinary powers could help develop machinery beyond the wildest dreams of the prophets. The way I see it is simple: Inhumans can't help being born that way, and while we'd like to offer them a cure if one is possible, we'd also like to at least give them the chance to use their gifts for good, as I'm sure many do." Maya continued.

Lance looked over to Daisy and Joey, who both had small smiles on their faces.

"Okay, maybe I like her." Daisy whispered again.

"Over recent times I've become detached from society and learnt to instinctively not trust anyone after so much hurt. I need to change that. Some Inhumans have good intentions and some have evil ones. But believe me when I say humans like you and me are exactly the same, otherwise there wouldn't be poverty and war. If you want to work with R.E.S.C.U.E., and I hope you all do, you need to give Inhumans a chance and to not be scared. I may live to regret it, but humanity has hurt me more than any Inhuman ever has." Maya declared, tears forming in the back of her eyes. There was another applause as she left the platform and began talking to group after group of people.

"Hell of a speech." Lance commented into his earpiece.

"Yeah, I'm kinda surprised about her view. I wish they all saw it that way. It seemed so genuine, and we know that there must be some truth to it; humanity hurt her when The Young Gods killed her family." Daisy said into hers.

…

A while later, Lance was getting himself a drink when he noticed Maya walking out of the conference room and into a corridor. Turning to find Bobbi, he noticed she was blabbing her way through a conversation. He looked around the room again and saw Daisy, who was signalling for him to follow Maya, having seen her leave herself but was too far away to be able to catch up to her.

Lance headed out of the room just in time to see Maya enter a room at the end of the corridor. He rushed to the room and walked quickly in, where he was met with the sight of a bathroom and a shocked Maya.

"…The gent's is the opposite side." Maya smiled.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Thanks." Lance mumbled with a grin.

"No problem." Maya said, turning towards a mirror and getting out her lipstick to reapply it.

"Can I just quickly say, I'm a big fan of what you're doing here; I agree with your view of Inhumans completely." Lance said, doing his best to be charming.

"Good to know. Sorry, you are?" Maya asked.

"Oh, Ben Watson. Doctor." Lance said, shaking Maya's hand.

"Ah, Doctor Watson." Maya chuckled.

"I get that a lot." Lance smiled.

"I'm sure, and I'm sorry for becoming another one of those people. I take it you're representing the hospital R.E.S.C.U.E. hopes to work with to store any supplies of an Inhuman cure should one be made?" Maya asked.

"Right, yes. That I am. I brought my wife along, too. She's a journalist so she's into these sort of things, but she's sworn to secrecy over this, don't worry." Lance replied.

"Glad to hear it. I actually dabbled in journalism myself." Maya smiled.

"Oh, I know." Lance nodded then panicked at his words. Maya fully faced him cautiously.

"You do?"

"Yeah. My wife research you a bit after the President's speech announcing R.E.S.C.U.E. She found a local paper from your hometown." Lance said, hoping to secure a chance to gain some information from her.

"She did, did she?"

"Yeah, about your busy life and…and The Young Gods." Lance said, taking a risk. Maya froze.

"I-Is that why you founded R.E.S.C.U.E.? In retaliation of what you went through? Which I'm really sorry about, by the way." Lance added.

"You know, I really don't appreciate some random man walking into a room he's not supposed to be in and opening up old wounds." Maya snapped angrily. Lance took a step back, knowing his risk hadn't paid off.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. You're right. My apologies." He said, turning towards the door and cursing himself for blowing a perfect opportunity to get answers.

"Wait, I'm sorry; that was very snappy of me. I'm sure having a journalist as a wife has understandably made you develop some bad habits." Maya said genuinely.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm so sorry." Lance said.

"Water under the bridge. Let's just leave it at that, shall we? All I'll say is that yes, that is why I'm doing what I'm doing. I want to save people from going through the hurt I did. If combating the terrible humans of this Earth is with Inhumans, it's a chance I'm willing to take." Maya explained passionately.

"I'm happy to hear that. I hope others agree with us." Lance smiled.

"Me too." Maya smiled back, offering Lance her hand again. He shook it once more.

…

"There was just a truth behind her voice, I can't explain it. She's a broken woman who wants to repair the damage. I think she's gonna be good for Inhumans." Lance explained back at HQ in Coulson's office, who was sat listening at his desk. Bobbi, Daisy and Joey were stood next to Lance.

"I agree with him, Coulson. The findings she used when the debate started synced with the data I recovered from R.E.S.C.U.E.'s private servers; I don't think there's anything to hide. I'll still try and get into the encrypted file, but I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry about R.E.S.C.U.E. or Maya Anderson anymore." Daisy smiled.

"I can't tell you how much of a relief that is. Okay, put all of it on the backburner. And this time I mean it. Well done guys." Coulson said happily.

"Awesome. I think I've had enough drama for one day." Joey said.

"Me too." Bobbi agreed.

Coulson looked at his agents with a genuine smile; things might just be starting to look up.

And then came the loud crash as all the lights went out and switched to emergency power.

"What the hell was that?" Joey asked.

"Is Lincoln having a fit or something?" Lance questioned.

"I don't know. Let's check it out." Coulson said, drawing his gun and heading for the door to his office, stopping only when a bloodcurdling sound echoed throughout the whole base. A sound that sent shivers up everyone's spine and drained the blood from their faces.

It was a _roar_. And one that sounded all too familiar.

"Was that what I think it was?" Bobbi asked, worried. Coulson looked at her, his face filled with terror.

"Rage. It's found us."


	6. Bang

**6: BANG**

"I repeat, we are under attack! Rage is inside the facility! Everybody stay alert and have weapons primed! Contain it at all costs but we need to take it alive; this could be our once chance to get answers!" Coulson said sternly into his earpiece, broadcasting to all other agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Rage's roars continued to echo across every corridor as it's rampage began.

"Didn't you say bullets can't stop it?" Joey asked.

"False confidence is still confidence." Coulson maintained nervously.

"Sir, why are we trying to contain Rage? It'll tears this place to shreds; we should evacuate." Bobbi recommended.

"Agreed. This is too dangerous, Coulson; how do we contain something we don't understand. We're not exactly sure what the extent of Rage's powers are." Daisy said.

"This is the plan and unless anything changes, we'll stick to it. I won't let it escape. I can't." Coulson stated.

"Well then boss, what's our first move?" Lance asked.

…

With a bang, one of the lab's walls collapsed completely, sending bottles and machinery flying across the room and smashing against the floor. Shards of broken glass and chunks of wall were crushed even further as Rage's bone-like feet stepped on them as if it was candyfloss.

Rage took a few steps forward and it's blackened eyes inspected every detail of the room. It leaped towards a large piece of machinery and crushed it into a ball with its bare hands before throwing it across the room and smashing a window into pieces. As it slowly walked across the room, it clawed away at the wall as it felt the vibrations of electricity hum through it.

It turned around to face the supply cupboard in the corner of the room and took a few steps closer, noticing the door was slightly ajar.

Hiding inside was a petrified Jemma Simmons.

…

Coulson and Daisy headed down one corridor to search for Rage while Bobbi, Lance and Joey went the opposite way to cover more ground.

"If you've got a plan, I'd love to hear it." Daisy panted.

"I wish I did." Coulson sighed.

"Coulson, I don't want to worry you further, but you do realise that this is an underground base, right? Too much structural damage anyone Rage hasn't got too yet is gonna get buried alive." Daisy said, worried.

"That's why we have to act fast."

"But we don't even have a plan. Coulson, this is too dangerous. HQ is compromised, we need to go." Daisy said.

"Daisy, this is the closest we might ever get to answers. I have to take the chance." Coulson stated firmly.

"Fine, but I hope you can bury your guilt if Rage buries everyone else." Daisy said. A sudden movement made Daisy jump and turn her gun on someone behind her. It was Lincoln.

"Don't worry, I'm not a big ugly rage monster. Huh, _rage_ monster. Sorry, time and a place." Lincoln said before Daisy lowered her gun and hugged him.

"You okay?" Lincoln asked her.

"Yeah. You?" She replied.

"I'd say more shocked than anything. How the hell did it find us?" Lincoln asked.

"That's what I'm desperate to know." Coulson said.

"Have you seen anyone else?" Daisy asked.

"I was training with May; we split up to find you guys. Rage seems to have disabled all means of communication so we can't track anyone. Last I knew, Mack was in the engineering bay and Fitz was in his bunk. I haven't heard from Jemma for a couple of hours." Lincoln explained.

"Knowing her she'll be in the lab. She's not very well trained in combat; let's find her before we deal with Rage." Coulson said and the group continued running down the corridor.

"How exactly do you intend on dealing with Rage again?" Lincoln asked.

"A question for another time." Coulson said. Lincoln sighed.

"Great."

They turned a corner and nearly threw up at the sight, and smell, of the bodies of eight S.H.I.E.L.D. employees. What was left of them, at least.

"It's killing for sport." Daisy said, disgusted.

"I'm still pretty new here so I don't know my bearings, but it looks like he's leaving a trail of bodies. Where's it heading?" Lincoln asked.

"The lab. Hurry!" Coulson shouted.

…

Jemma's heart was practically beating out of her chest as she sank as far back into the supply cupboard as she could. Tears streamed down her face as she placed her hand over her mouth to cover her breathing.

Rage took another step closer. And closer again.

Suddenly, another bang rang out as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent ran in and fired shots at Rage to no avail. Rage leapt at the agent and snapped his neck as easy as tearing a marshmallow.

The whole base suddenly shook; it was beginning to collapse in on itself.

Jemma wondered if she should get her phone out and quickly dial her parents' number. However briefly, she wanted to hear their voices one last time. Rage turned back towards the cupboard and walked closer, reaching its hand out to the door.

Another roar sounded as an axe plunged into Rage's back. It turned around and saw Mack stood there with a shotgun pointed at it.

"Surprise, bitch." Mack said.

Rage tore the axe out of its back and the cut in its skin began to heal within seconds.

"Well now you're just cheating." Mack sighed before shooting Rage with his shotgun and rushing out. Rage jumped towards the wall and smashed through it like a knife through butter before racing in pursuit of Mack. Coulson, Daisy and Lincoln caught a glimpse of it just as it turned the corner.

"Lincoln, check if anyone's in the lab. Daisy, let's go!" Coulson said, rushing after Rage. Lincoln pulled Daisy close and kissed her passionately.

"Be careful." He whispered.

"You too." She smiled slightly, kissing him again then running off.

"Lincoln!" A Scottish voice sounded from behind. Lincoln turned around to see Fitz running towards him, then through into the lab. Lincoln followed suit.

"Simmons?" Fitz asked nervously as he looked around the remains of the lab. The supply cupboard burst open as Jemma rushed out and straight into Fitz's arms.

"Are you hurt?" Fitz asked, concerned.

"No. You?" Jemma asked, picking a piece of rubble out of Fitz's hair.

"I'm okay. Where's everyone else?" Fitz asked.

"Bobbi, Hunter and Joey are doing the rounds. Coulson and Daisy are chasing Rage. Rage seemed in a hurry himself." Lincoln explained.

"It's chasing Mack. If it weren't for him, Rage would've killed me." Jemma said, still shaking. Fitz took her hand and squeezed it tight.

"I should've been here." He said sadly.

"Fitz, it's not your fault. You were having a well-earned rest." Jemma stated.

The whole room shook again, causing the group to almost lost their bearings.

"I'm no expert, but this place doesn't seem to want to stay up for much longer." Lincoln said.

"Your architectural skills know no bounds." Fitz said.

"What's the fastest way out of here? We need to evacuate everyone; Coulson's on a desperate search for answers that'll get everyone killed." Lincoln said.

"Fitz, where did we store Prototype 3427?" Jemma asked.

"Simmons, that's still in its prototype stage. Hence the name Prototype 3427." Fitz said.

"We've tested it before; we know it works." Jemma said.

"Yeah, for one person not a whole base." Fitz retaliated.

"We have to try. Rage has probably destroyed all other exits." Jemma said.

"Let's go there; see if we can rally people up on the way. Enough people have died already." Lincoln said and the three of them rushed out of the room.

…

As Mack ran as fast as he could round a corner, he saw May running towards him and stopping at the sight of him.

"May, run!" He exclaimed just as Rage smashed through yet another wall with a bang to continue chase. May obeyed and ran as Mack continued looking back and firing shots at Rage while Coulson and Daisy ran not too far behind. Daisy sent a pulse at Rage, causing it to fly into another wall. It smashed through it with a loud crash before running back out.

"STOP THIS!" Coulson shouted. Rage stopped and stared at Coulson, who pointed his gun at it. Mack and May ran back and did the same, leaving Rage surrounded.

"You think you have me trapped?" Rage mocked.

"Of course not; my base is falling apart because of you and I'm more than aware that you could kill all four of us in a matter of seconds. I want to know how the hell you found us and why you're doing this." Coulson demanded.

"Such fury. Such… _rage_." The creature hissed.

"You're one to talk." Lance said as he walked round the corner with Bobbi and Joey, their weapons all pointed at the monstrous being.

"This is a mere warning." Rage whispered.

"Destroying an entire underground base is a warning?" May asked.

"Compared to what I can do? Yes." Rage growled.

"You're not leaving. You're gonna tell me what I want to know or -" Coulson began.

"-Or you'll do what? Fire another meaningless bullet?" Rage teased.

The base rumbled again, in a much fiercer way than before.

"Coulson, we need to get out of here; this place has about ten minutes at the most." Daisy said.

"How do you know?" Coulson asked.

"Movements in the ground? Kinda my thing, remember." Daisy replied.

"It doesn't matter to me whether you get out or not. I pray we do not meet again. For your sake." Rage said before pummelling through the wall and out of sight.

"No!" Coulson exclaimed, shooting at the point where Rage had vanished.

"Something tells me if I hit it with a car again it wouldn't work." Mack commented.

"It's definitely stronger than when we last encountered it." Coulson said, still seething with anger at what Rage had done to the place would go as far as to call home.

"We need to get out of here! NOW." May shouted as rocks and rubble began to fall from above, stopping the group from being able to move in case they got hit. Lincoln appeared at the end of the corridor.

"Coulson! What do we do?" He shouted.

"Get Fitzsimmons and get out of here!" Coulson exclaimed.

"What about all of you?" He asked.

"We'll find a way! Go!" Daisy shouted back.

"Daisy, I -"

BANG. Boulder after boulder fell, blocking the corridor and removing Lincoln from everyone's sight. The rumbling got louder and fiercer as more and more rocks began to crumble and fall around everyone. Coulson stayed staring at the floor, unmoving.

"Coulson?" Joey said.

"HOW? HOW DID IT KNOW WHERE WE WERE? WHO TOLD IT?" Coulson asked furiously. Daisy started using her powers to move falling debris out of everyone's way, but there was quickly becoming too much for her to handle. Bobbi turned to Lance, who was staring down with a pale face.

"Hunter?" She asked, taking his hand. He let go and stepped forward.

"Coulson." He said solemnly.

"Yeah?"

"…I-It was me." Lance said.

Before anyone could speak, they were littered with debris and sent crashing to the floor, with more rubble piling on top of them with every passing second.

…

Rushing to the opposite end of the corridor, Lincoln almost collapsed from exhaustion as more debris began to fall.

"Where're the others?" Jemma asked.

"Trapped. They told us to get out and they'd find their own way." Lincoln said.

"We can't just leave them!" Jemma protested.

"Daisy's there, you think I want to?! We don't have a choice, Simmons!" Lincoln shouted as Fitz ran up to them with a metallic device in his hands.

"Here it is. It better bloody work. Where is everyone?" Fitz asked.

"They're finding their own way. What is it?" Lincoln asked.

"Teleporter of sorts, we've been working on it for years. Type in co-ordinates and any directly touching the device will be sent there. We've only tried one location and we can't risk anywhere else just in case something goes wrong." Fitz explained.

Another bang as a large boulder fell next to Jemma, who screamed as she shuffled closer to Fitz, who quickly typed some numbers into the small metal device, leading the outer rim to glow with an orange light.

"Put your hand on it!" Fitz shouted, the noise of the collapsing structures becoming deafeningly loud. Jemma and Lincoln did so and Fitz pressed a circular button in the centre. A blinding orange light surrounded them and they disappeared in a flash, just as rubble and debris fell onto where they were stood.

Bang after bang sounded as S.H.I.E.L.D. metaphorically and physically fell apart, and everyone was powerless to stop it.


	7. Out Here On Our Own

**7: OUT HERE ON OUR OWN**

As the bright orange light faded away, Lincoln sat up with a start and found he was on top of a muddy hill with a light rain falling down. He stood up and wiped the mud off his hands and saw Fitz and Simmons knelt down a few metres away. Jemma had her eyes shut and hand over her mouth while Fitz gently rubbed her back.

"Is she okay?" Lincoln asked.

"The teleport's made her a bit sick, but she'll be okay. I'm the only one who's used it before; I'm glad it still worked for three of us. Maybe being an Inhuman means you don't suffer any ill effects." Fitz explained.

"So, this is where we wanted to go?" Lincoln asked, looking around at the country around him. Despite the rain, it actually looked like quite a pretty place.

"Yep." Fitz nodded.

"Where are we?" Lincoln wondered.

"Home." Fitz replied.

"Home?" Lincoln questioned. Fitz smiled as he looked around.

"Welcome to Scotland."

…

Lance woke with a start.

He inhaled then panicked, expecting his mouth to be filled with dust and debris. However, he found he was sat in the back seat of a car. His clothes and hair were filthy from rubble, yet somehow not dead.

"H-How am I not a Lance pancake right now?" Lance asked, rubbing his eyes. Coulson was sat to his left while Bobbi was sat in front with Mack driving.

"Daisy came to; used her powers to clear the rubble off of us. We followed the path to the surface Rage created when he made his escape once enough of us were conscious to carry everyone else. You okay?" Bobbi asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Hell of a headache, mind. Where did you get the car?" Lance asked.

"I borrowed it." Mack said, his eyes fixated on the road.

"And where's everyone else?"

"They're all in a van behind us. We're gonna keep driving until we decide where to go. We've already leaked a report saying there was a small earthquake locally in case anyone heard our little underground scuffle." Coulson explained.

"Right. Okay. Where did you get the van?"

"I borrowed that too."

"To clarify, HQ is destroyed, we're on our own and we have no idea where Lincoln or Fitzsimmons went." Bobbi explained.

"And Rage's attack cut all our means of communicating with them; somehow he managed to short-circuit all of our phones." Mack added.

"Brilliant day to be an agent, then. Look, Coulson, I -"

"-Shut up, Hunter." Coulson said, pointing a gun at Lance.

"COULSON." Bobbi protested.

"It's okay, Bob." Lance reassured.

"Don't think I forgot what you told me before HQ caved in. Talk. Now." Coulson demanded, a look of anger on his face that none of the team had seen before.

They'd seen Coulson angry, but never like this.

…

"It's not much further, just down the road." Fitz said, walking down a pebbly street, house after house along it.

"My phone's fried. Must've been Rage - somehow." Jemma said.

"That thing is a lot more powerful than I expected." Lincoln sighed.

"I think it's grown in power somehow. It must be to do with the extra layer of DNA we found on the sample." Fitz said to Jemma, who nodded.

"Agreed; Rage seems to be able to adapt and advance its powers as time goes on. It naturally gets stronger and stronger." Jemma added.

"So how do we stop something that gets more powerful with every second?" Lincoln asked. Fitzsimmons looked at each other and said nothing more as they kept walking.

"I see." Lincoln said, worried.

"I hope the others got out alright. I wish I'd memorised their phone numbers." Jemma sighed.

"Here we go." Fitz said, guiding Jemma and Lincoln into the front garden on one of the houses on the street. It was painted a baby blue with a slate roof, and something about it just radiated warmth. Fitz knocked on the door with excitement, and a few moments later it opened, revealing the sight of a woman dressed in a blue cardigan on top of a dark green dress with curly brown hair and bright blue eyes.

"Leo?" She asked, shocked and amazed.

"Hey, mum." Fitz smiled as the woman hugged her tightly.

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought -"

"-It's a long story, ma." Fitz sighed.

"Look at you! Soaked to the skin and…and what the hell is all this dirt on your clothes? What have you done? Come in and get yourself cleaned up!" Fitz's mother exclaimed.

"Not just him." Jemma smiled as she leaned over Fitz's shoulder.

"JEMMA? What a lovely surprise! Oh, look at you all mucky, get inside sweetie!" Fitz's mother said, pulling Jemma into a hug.

"Nice to see you, Emilia." Jemma smiled at Fitz, who rolled his eyes as he walked into the house.

"And you, darling. More beautiful every time I see you. And who's this?" Emilia asked, addressing Lincoln, who smiled sweetly at her.

"This is Lincoln. He works with us." Jemma explained as she walked through into the house.

"And is he single? Just kidding. Maybe." Emilia chuckled.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Fitz." Lincoln smiled, shaking Emilia's hand.

"And you, son – come on in!" Emilia said warmly, shutting the door as Lincoln walked inside.

"I know, I'll make some tea!" She added as she headed into the kitchen.

"Mum, do we have any shortbread?" Fitz asked as he looked through the kitchen cupboards.

"That's a silly question, Leo. That drawer on the right." Emilia grinned, rubbing Fitz's hair as she put the kettle on. Jemma and Lincoln headed into the living room and took a seat.

"Something big's happened, right? Jemma looks really shaken." Emilia asked, growing more serious.

"We took a hit, yeah. We got attacked and separated from the others with no way to contact them. We don't even know if they're alive. They probably don't know if we are either." Fitz explained sadly. Emilia reassuringly rubbed Fitz's arm as he took a bite of shortbread.

"So what are you gonna do?" Emilia asked.

"I have no idea." Fitz admitted.

…

"Coulson, you don't need a gun pointing at him. He'll talk." Bobbi said sternly.

"Bob, it's okay." Lance said.

"Did you know about this?" Coulson asked Bobbi.

"She didn't, leave her out of it." Lance said.

"You don't talk unless I say you can." Coulson said fiercely.

"I didn't know, but there's more than meets the eye to this. Rage made you tell, right? You wouldn't just flat out betray S.H.I.E.L.D., right? You know that Coulson." Bobbi said.

"Just let him talk before I die of old age." Mack remarked.

"Go on then. Do tell." Coulson ordered, the gun practically pressed on Lance's side.

"Honestly, I didn't remember it until just before HQ collapsed. It felt like I almost dreamt it. I remember it as if it were a dream. I can't pinpoint where we are, but it's just me and Rage in some room, and it's like he's inside my head and taking my thoughts and I can't even put up a fight. There's just this power there and there's nothing I can do. I keep thinking it was just a dream, but that can't be a coincidence, right?" Lance explained.

"So Rage just took the information it wanted from you at some point? When did it get the chance?" Mack questioned.

"On any mission at any time, who knows?" Bobbi speculated.

"Coulson, honestly. I don't know when or how or why it all happened. I swear. Why would I put Bobbi or any of my mates in danger like that?" Lance pleaded. Coulson took a moment and lowered the gun.

"We all underestimated Rage's powers. It's stronger than before." Coulson said.

"What's the plan, boss?" Mack inquired.

"Rage made it personal. I don't know how, but we're gonna find him. And whatever the cost, we're gonna end him." Coulson said sternly, staring out of the window.

No one in the car could see his face, but they still knew exactly what his expression was.

…

Emilia had lit a fire in the fireplace to allow everyone to get warmed up. As Jemma sat in front of it wrapped in a blanket, Fitz walked in from the kitchen and sat down next to her. The two shared a smile.

"You okay?" Fitz asked.

"I'm fine. Just worried about the others." Jemma replied.

"We'll find a way. We always do." Fitz said.

"I know. But what if they're not alright? And all that equipment and the date we'll have lost, it -"

"-Simmons, it'll be okay. I promise." Fitz said, taking Jemma's hand. Jemma smiled and wrapped some of the blanket around him for them to share as he snapped a piece of shortbread and handed one half to her.

"You must be feeling off if you're sharing shortbread." Jemma teased.

"Shut up, I'm a lovely person all the time." Fitz smiled.

"You're the grumpiest human being ever." Jemma chuckled for the first time in a while.

"Maybe so. But I know Rage shook you up a bit." Fitz said, concerned. Jemma took a minute to gather herself.

"I thought I was dead, Fitz. I nearly called my mum and dad just to hear their voices. The look on its face, and those dead eyes. That thing is a monster." Jemma admitted, tearing up.

"You're safe now, Simmons." Fitz said, wrapping his arm around her comfortingly. Jemma shuffled into Fitz's chest and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're very comfy, you know." Jemma grinned.

"It's all the layers of shortbread." Fitz smirked and Jemma laughed.

"You know, if I had to be stranded and losing hope with anyone, I'm glad I'm with you." Jemma whispered, her eyes fixated on the dancing flames of the fire.

"Me too." Fitz whispered, smiling as he watched Jemma contently watching the fire.

From the kitchen door, Emilia watched the two with a grin, as did Lincoln.

"You're rooting for them too, huh?" Lincoln smiled.

"Every time I bring up the topic he blushes and changes the subject. They're just so oblivious. Imagine how smart my grandchildren are gonna be." Emilia said happily.

"You're confident, then?" Lincoln asked.

"It's not if, it's when. Are they always like this?" Emilia asked.

"All the time. Every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent ever can see it." Lincoln smiled.

"Love is a beautiful thing. What about you? Is there a special girl?" Emilia asked. Lincoln smiled briefly before his expression dropped.

"I don't even know if she's alive." He said sadly.

"If nothing else, there is always hope. And I hope you find your way back to her." Emilia said softly.

"So do I." Lincoln said.

"Whenever I feel sad, no matter what the weather, I just look out that window into the garden. Flowers always bring me joy." Emilia smiled, pointing to the window. Lincoln walked up to it and smiled; even in the rain, the many colours filled him with a tiny hint of happiness even in such dark times.

"Those are my favourites," Emilia said, pointing again, "I love daisies."

"Me too." Lincoln smiled.

The rain poured long into the night, but the glimmer of hope still remained.


	8. At Last We Meet

**8: AT LAST WE MEET**

"I've lost count of how many of these we've gone through at this point." May smirked as she and Coulson stood in a S.H.I.E.L.D. cargo bay, staring up at a large jet black plane – The Bus. Well, another one.

"Well this is our new HQ until further notice. It'll help us track Rage quicker and allows us to continue our research ASAP. Plus, it makes me nostalgic for the good old days." Coulson smiled.

"How much did the team recover from the remains of HQ?" May asked.

"Some equipment was repairable. Luckily we uploaded a lot of data onto the S.H.I.E.L.D. cloud database so a lot of what we had is intact, including our research on Rage's DNA and R.E.S.C.U.E. Also, Daisy finally got into R.E.S.C.U.E.'s encrypted files; she's gonna show me what she has when we're all loaded into the plane. You still good to fly?" Coulson explained.

"Always. What about Fitzsimmons and Lincoln?" May said.

"We're still looking for leads. We've all got replacement phones but the same can't be said for them; they can't contact us and we don't know where they are. Daisy and Mack volunteered to lead the investigation into their whereabouts. Fitzsimmons have all the knowledge on the DNA we need and Lincoln's a valuable team player." Coulson explained.

"And I imagine Daisy's pretty keen to have him back." May added.

"She is; we all are. I just have to hope and pray that we find them. No bodies were found in the wreckage; they got out." Coulson said.

"We'll get them back and finish this. You're right; Rage is going down for this." May said sternly, heading onto the new Bus with purpose. Coulson looked around and saw the others all heading onto the vehicle, with Lance coming up to him as he went.

"Look Coulson, about everything with Rage, I -"

"-Hunter, we've discussed it. There's nothing you could've done; Rage is too powerful." Coulson said.

"I know, but HQ is destroyed because of me." Lance sighed.

"No, because of _Rage_. And we're gonna stop him." Coulson declared.

…

Lincoln walked down the steps of Fitz's childhood home early in the morning yet still found Jemma was already up and watching the sunrise from out of a large window.

"Couldn't sleep?" Lincoln asked, causing Jemma to face him.

"Despite how comfortable the beds are in this house, not well, no. I guess it's just everything piling up – I'm too worried about the others. How was top-and-tailing with Fitz?" Jemma wondered.

"I left him to his snoring." Lincoln smiled.

"You get used to it eventually. I grew accustomed to it after who knows how many nights we fell asleep in each other's rooms studying at The Academy." Jemma recalled happily.

"I didn't realise you knew Fitz's mom so well." Lincoln observed.

"Oh, yes; I must have been 18 or 19 when I visited Scotland with Fitz and met her in person. I've spent a few Christmases down here too; Emilia makes the best mince pies. Fitz doesn't like them so she only makes them when I visit during the holiday season. She's basically a second mum, like -" Jemma explained.

"- A mother-in-law?" Lincoln asked with raised eyebrows.

"Well, no, because that would apply that Fitz and I were a couple." Jemma said.

"To be fair, I thought you were when I first met you both." Lincoln admitted. Jemma rolled her eyes.

"You sound just like Daisy. And May. And Coulson. And Bobbi. And our Academy lecturers." Jemma listed before noting how solemn Lincoln's face turned at the mention of Daisy's name.

"I'm sure everyone's okay. They'll find us." Jemma added reassuringly.

"I hope so."

At that moment, Fitz entered the room from upstairs.

"Morning." He yawned.

"Morning. How about I make us all some tea?" Lincoln suggested, heading into the kitchen as Fitz approached Jemma.

"Is he okay?" Fitz asked.

"He's worried about the others just like we are. Especially about Daisy." Jemma replied.

"Why Daisy?" Fitz wondered.

"Because they're together."

"Since when?!"

"Oh, Fitz. Try to keep up." Jemma smiled.

"Relationships, research, Rage, R.E.S.C.U.E.; there's too much to keep up with." Fitz grumbled as Jemma grew teary.

"What if Rage killed them all, Fitz? And we just left them there?"

Fitz said nothing more, only pulling Jemma into a warm hug.

…

As the team packed the few things they've recovered from the wreckage or bought into their bunks on The Bus, Coulson and Daisy set up the holotable at the centre of the craft and Daisy plugged in a USB.

"We've been going through news feeds and the internet, but no signs of Rage anywhere. No sightings or leads." Daisy revealed.

"Something will come up soon; else I may have to tear down a building or two." Coulson said angrily.

"Coulson, don't let Rage get you like this. Keep control." Daisy warned.

"You're right, Skye – Daisy, dammit – I'm sorry. What did you get on R.E.S.C.U.E.'s encrypted file?" Coulson prompted.

"It took a while to get through the layers of coding, but it seems to be in-depth profiles of Inhumans that are public knowledge and some not, like Carl Creel, probably all provided by the President's contacts. One file is labelled 'T.Y.G.', but the contents have been password protected so I'll have to find the password in another part of the data somewhere. There are also profiles on the employees, including our favourite founder herself." Daisy revealed.

"Maya Anderson." Coulson nodded.

"Yep. Looks like the file can normally only be accessible to Anderson and the head of security; it contains some contact details. Including a private phone number." Daisy said.

"Send the details to my office. I need to get away from the Rage case for a while, and I think it's time I met Miss Anderson myself." Coulson stated.

…

Daisy joined Mack in the lab, where he was going through papers and machinery recovered from HQ, all spread out across the large central table.

"What's all this?" Daisy asked.

"Stuff recovered from HQ. I'm cataloguing all the equipment that survived – or at least trying to; Fitz was the best at this stuff. Damn, do I miss that guy." Mack sighed.

"We'll find them, Mack. All we've done so far is search the local CCTV; there are so many more options." Daisy reassured.

"I know. I'm gonna have a hell of a job repairing all of this crap, you know. Huh, that's weird." Mack said, confused.

"What's weird?" Daisy asked.

"Well, if I've logged everything in right, we have recovered or recovered parts of everything from the Prototype Centre except for one thing. Something called Prototype 3427." Mack revealed.

"Coulson, it's Daisy. What's Prototype 3427? Do you know?" Daisy asked into her earpiece. Coulson's voice echoed back through to her.

"3427…rings a bell…ah, I know! It was a project Fitzsimmons had been working on for years. Some sort of teleport. They didn't get a lot of spare time to work on it but Fitz successfully teleported using it once or twice. He only ever tried one location, though."

"Well, that's the only Prototype not accounted for in any way from HQ's wreckage." Daisy revealed, a smile growing on her and Mack's faces.

"And it magically disappears at the same time as the only two people who would know how to use it." Mack said.

"If everything was collapsing around you, a teleport would be the best bet!" Daisy commented.

"Fitz only ever used it to go back to Scotland. Go into his file on the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and get his mother's contact information. We might just have found the clever sons of bitches. Great work guys!" Coulson's voice echoed through Daisy's earpiece as Daisy and Mack high-fived.

"We've got 'em, Tremors." Mack grinned.

…

"Hello, Miss Anderson. Phil Coulson calling; I think it's about two we met in person, don't you?"

…

It was late afternoon, and things between Jemma, Fitz and Lincoln had never been so tense. They were all overcome with a sense of dread; anything could happen at any moment.

"Park Lane with a hotel, Fitz! Pay up!" Jemma chuckled.

"I bloody hate Monopoly." Fitz sighed.

"You didn't when I landed on your hotel earlier." Lincoln smirked.

"Not relevant." Fitz groaned. Emilia rushed in excitedly.

"Fitz, there's a secure number calling asking for you! The guy's name was Mick or…or something like that."

"Mack?" Fitz asked, sitting up straight. Jemma and Lincoln faced Emilia excitedly.

"Mack! Yes, that was it!" Emilia confirmed. A smile formed on everyone's faces.

"They found us! They bloody found us!" Fitz shouted, kissing Jemma's head and patting Lincoln on the back in celebration as he rushed into the kitchen to take the call.

"Oh, good! Didn't I say everything would work out? And I know JUST how to celebrate – mince pies!" Emilia said happily as Fitz rushed back in.

"They're gonna pick us up at the field where we landed here; they couldn't find Prototype 3427 in the wreckage and worked out that we'd used it!" Fitz exclaimed.

"So everyone's okay?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah, everyone's fine!" Fitz grinned.

Jemma and Lincoln shared a smile; they'd missed the feeling of having hope.

…

It was a sunny day at a pier as Coulson stood at the edge of it looking out to sea, waiting. Eventually, he heard the sound of high heels tapping the wooden surface, getting closer and closer. Coulson smiled and turned around to see Maya Anderson stood there in the cream dress she'd worn at the press conference announcing R.E.S.C.U.E. Standing just behind her were two bulky bodyguards.

"Phil Coulson. At last we meet." Maya smiled.

"Indeed." Coulson said, holding out his hand to her. She shook it gracefully.

"I must admit I had my doubts about coming, but I was interested in knowing how you acquired my private number." Maya said.

"Very cleverly, I assure you. I take it you'd already heard of me before today?" Coulson asked.

"Of course. Phil Coulson, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. The President told me all about you and your secret little club." Maya revealed.

"Funny, because he never mentioned a thing to me about you or R.E.S.C.U.E. until you were on the news. Nice name, by the way." Coulson smiled.

"That probably says more about how much he trusts you than me." Maya retaliated.

"Or maybe his trust is misplaced." Coulson said.

"So that's what this is about? You want to know if I can be trusted?" Maya wondered.

"In a way, though I feel like I do. After all, the agents I had undercover at your Inhuman debate got plenty out of you. The British hospital representative and his journalist wife?" Coulson prompted.

"He was one of yours?" Maya asked, shocked and slightly appalled.

"I had to know if you were clean. I think you are; I'm choosing to trust you, but I can't fully trust R.E.S.C.U.E. until I see exactly what it is you're doing." Coulson said.

"Look, the President has faith in R.E.S.C.U.E. and S.H.I.E.L.D. and I respect that, so I'm gonna let your antics slide for now. I promise you, I want to give humanity, Inhuman or not, a chance to rise higher than ever before. Together. I'm sure you've had your fair share of trouble with Inhumans." Maya said.

"I'm in the middle of trouble with one right now. Blue, rocky skin? Attacked the school, theatre and amusement park?" Coulson said.

"Yes, I recall the news reports; didn't exactly help R.E.S.C.U.E.'s aims to get supported by the public." Maya sighed.

"Maybe we can work together on the case at some point?" Coulson suggested.

"Maybe we can. But I will say this: you sneak any of your agents into my business and purposefully bring up my family to get information from me again, and I'll make sure even the most remote islands in the world know S.H.I.E.L.D. is still out there. Lovely meeting you; I like your taste in meeting spots." Maya warned sternly.

"We're on our way to pick up some friends; made sense to come to a pier in the United Kingdom." Coulson said.

"It's lucky I have a jet, really." Maya said, turning to walk away.

"Miss Anderson? You're right about how I got my agent to manipulate you like that. I'm truly sorry for that, and for what happened to your husband and son." Coulson said meaningfully, leaving Maya visibly moved.

"Thank you. And call me Maya."

"I hope we meet again, Maya."

"As do I, Phil." Maya smiled and walked off with her bodyguards

"I don't like being called Phil." Coulson shouted after her.

"Tough." Maya shouted back with a grin.

…

"Thanks, ma." Fitz said as he hugged Emilia goodbye, who in turn hugged Jemma and Lincoln.

"Go and be extraordinary!" Emilia exclaimed with a wave as the three wandered off to the hill they had arrived on previously. As they got there, they felt and heard the vibrations of a jet, and the cloaking device turned off to reveal the vehicle to them as they approached it.

"Fitz! It's The Bus!" Jemma exclaimed excitedly, running inside as the ramp was lowered. Fitz followed closely behind with Lincoln not far behind him.

"…But it's a plane?" Lincoln wondered as he walked on.

Soon enough, Fitzsimmons and Lincoln had hugged and reunited with the rest of the team (and Daisy and Lincoln snuck off for a significant period of time that everyone noticed but didn't dare bring up). That evening, as The Bus soared through the air, Coulson gathered everyone in the longue area.

"I know we've had our setbacks in the past few days, and we've had our losses, but now will be our time to fight back. We won't underestimate Rage ever again. We'll train, we'll research, we'll prepare, we'll find it and stop it's reign of terror for good. Fitzsimmons, upload the DNA of Maya Anderson I got from my hand onto our database then everyone postpone our investigations of Maya and R.E.S.C.U.E.; from this moment on, Rage is our only worry. But we won't worry about him for too long." Coulson declared, leaving everyone inspired and ready to take Rage on and win.

And yet they had no idea of the losses that were yet to come.


	9. Turning Point

**9: TURNING POINT**

The turning point came three days later.

The remaining members of S.H.I.E.L.D. were settled on The Bus, which had been officially designated HQ until further notice, and everyone was in much higher spirits as cuts and bruises healed and the whole group were reunited after Rage's attack.

Daisy walked into Coulson's office holding a small piece of paper and saw he was examining his fake hand, which was sat upright on his desk allowing him to prod it with his remaining hand.

"Do I want to ask what you're doing with that?" Daisy smirked. Coulson rolled his eyes as he reattached the hand and allowed Daisy to sit on the opposite side of his desk.

"It's been glitching a lot over the past couple of days; I'll get Fitz to look at it after him and Simmons are settled fully back in on their work on Rage's DNA." Coulson explained.

"Okay. Any other leads turn up yet?" Daisy asked.

"Unfortunately, nothing. I'm tempted to ask Maya for any intel R.E.S.C.U.E. may have in case they have something we missed." Coulson said.

"Oh, so she's just 'Maya' now then? Are you BFFs after one conversation?" Daisy teased.

"She's a woman with a tragic past, like most of us on this plane. I know who the real threat is now; it's Rage, not Maya and her organisation. What've you got there?" Coulson wondered.

"I finally found the password to get into that file we got from R.E.S.C.U.E.'s data – the one labelled 'TYG'?" Daisy revealed, and Coulson nodded to show he recalled the file.

"Well, there's a LOT of information in there; so much I've barely gone through a fifth of it." Daisy added.

"What've you found so far?"

"Just a bunch of information on some random people; I assume they work for R.E.S.C.U.E., a list of addresses for all of them and other personal details. There also seems to be loads of newspaper clippings but I haven't gone through them yet. What interested me was this guy." Daisy said, placing the piece of paper on Coulson's desk. It was a photo of a dishevelled looking man in a grey shirt.

"He seems kinda familiar?" Coulson said, bewildered upon seeing the photo.

"That's was one of two things that interested me, too." Daisy said.

"You got a name for him?" Coulson asked.

"The profile attached to the photo named him as Blake Newman. I don't recognise the name but I feel like I've seen his face before." Daisy commented.

"Me too. What else interested you about it?" Coulson asked.

"This isn't a professionally taken photo. It's kinda blurry and off. It's like someone was in a rush or nervous to take it. Why would R.E.S.C.U.E. have a picture of this guy in their official database that's so poorly taken?" Daisy speculated.

"Good point, Daisy, good work. Let me know if you remember the guy and if you find anything else of interested in the file. 'TYG'. What could that be?" Coulson asked.

"I'm hoping the answers somewhere else in the file." Daisy said, nodding to Coulson as she headed out. Coulson sighed and put his head to his desk.

"My head hurts."

…

"Simmons, how many times have I told you not to leave anything that is rotting in the lab?" Fitz complained as he stayed pressed against the wall at one end of the lab, hand over his mouth. Jemma rolled her eyes and laughed.

"That's my lunch, Fitz. It's muesli." She smiled, picking up her lunch and placing it on her desk.

"Ew." Fitz commented as Jemma stared intently at a computer screen.

"We're missing something, Fitz." Jemma stated as Fitz joined her at the computer.

"What're you looking at?" He asked.

"Rage's DNA sample; it's lucky we could salvage the data from the remains of HQ. I just _know_ we're missing something obvious. It's driving me mad." Jemma sighed.

"Jemma, we've gone over this sample at least thirty times, down to the tiniest detail. I could probably draw a very accurate drawing of the bloody thing in my sleep." Fitz said.

"Which is why it's so frustrating that I'm feeling this way." Jemma said.

"Simmons, you just need to relax into it. You're one of, if not the greatest biochemist in the world. And I'm sort of clever too. We'll figure it out." Fitz said reassuringly, making Jemma smile.

"I know we will, but I just don't want Rage to attack or kill anyone else while we take so long to figure it out. I mean, look at the DNA's structure. I feel like I've seen this recently, but not _here_ on this sample. Do you know what I mean?" Jemma wondered.

"Okay, what else have we looked at recently, however briefly, that could have changed the way you saw this sample and brought about this feeling?" Fitz asked.

"Plenty of things, I'm sure." Jemma sighed.

"I'll check some of the data we've gone through over the last few days." Fitz said, moving to his own computer and quickly getting to work, flicking through photos and articles and samples as a fast pace. Jemma watched him with a smile; he'd gotten so much quicker at using the computer again after the brain damage.

She frowned; they hadn't spoken about that in a _very_ long time. Once they stopped mentioning it, they started getting along again. She wasn't going to risk bringing it up now, even if it was simply to praise how far Fitz had come.

"Bloody hell." Fitz said, sitting back in his chair as Jemma rushed over to him.

"What is it? Did you find something?" She asked.

"Look at this sample. We looked at it a few days ago, remember?" Fitz said.

"Yes, and?"

"Simmons, _look at it_." Fitz said. Jemma took a moment then her mouth practically fell to the floor.

"That can't be possible." She said.

"We need to get Coulson." Fitz stated.

"We need to get _everyone_." Jemma corrected.

…

There was a moment of confusion between everyone as they waited in the briefing room on The Bus as Coulson walked in.

"Thanks for coming so quickly. Fitzsimmons asked me to gather everyone quickly; they're on their way here now. Apparently they've found something big." Coulson revealed.

"It's about time we got our hands dirty again." Joey smiled.

"Where are Daisy and Bobbi?" Coulson asked.

"On their way; Bobbi was helping Daisy with a lead or something." Mack replied.

"Just don't mention how everyone got here before them; Bobbi will break your finger. I know from experience." Lance said.

"You're joking, right?" Lincoln asked. Lance sighed and gently shook his head.

"If only."

"COULSON!" Daisy exclaimed as she and Bobbi rushed into the room.

"What is it?" Coulson asked.

"We think we've got something." Bobbi said in a mix of excitement and panic.

"Something on Rage?" May asked.

"Uh, kinda." Daisy said.

"As ever, I'm filled with confidence." Lance remarked.

"Just let me explain. So I was talking to Bobbi about this and she happened to notice the photo I showed you earlier. But Bobbi recognised the guy right away." Daisy revealed.

"Who is it? How do we know his face but not his name?" Coulson asked.

"Because when you introduced him to us, sir, we didn't know his name." Bobbi stated, placing a photo on the table in front of everyone. It was the corpse of the man in a wooden hut with a bloodied hole through his chest that Coulson had shown the team at the very beginning of it all.

"That's him!" Coulson declared.

"Yep. The man Rage killed was called Blake Newman. And he doesn't work for R.E.S.C.U.E." Daisy said.

"So why do they have a profile on him in their encrypted files?" Mack asked.

"Well, after that reveal we flicked through more of the files and came across a file on this woman. Her name is Victoria Parks. Recognise her?" Daisy asked, placing another photo of a woman on the desk.

"The woman in the woods! Rage's first victim, the one he killed a month before Blake Newman." Coulson said and Daisy nodded.

"So R.E.S.C.U.E. has files on Rage's murders? How did it get that intel; I thought the President trusted us with this and no one else?" Joey asked.

"Not just the murders. We think we've found the link between all of Rage's crimes." Bobbi said.

"Even the three attacks?" May asked.

"Yep. Neither Blake Newman nor Victoria Parks are registered R.E.S.C.U.E. agents, we checked. And neither are these three; Ciaran Malone, Tyler Lance and Ruby Black. R.E.S.C.U.E. had their profiles in the encrypted file too. The difference with these three is that unlike the other two, they had family listed in their profiles. Newman and Parks didn't have any children but these three do." Bobbi explained.

"Okay?" Lance said, confused.

"The profiles gave us all we needed to know. Ciaran Malone's son goes to the middle school, and Rage attacked the exact building the son was in, like it knew his timetable to a tee. Tyler Lance's daughter was at the theatre with her school on the trip when Rage attacked it; there's a record in the profile detailing the trip. And Ruby Black's daughter lives with her father now, but there are extracts from her social media accounts in the profile saying she'd be at the amusement park on opening day – the amusement park Rage attacked." Daisy revealed.

"So, Rage killed the people without kids but went after the kids of the people who did have them? I guess seeing your children get hurt is worse than death." May realised.

"I knew I should've gone to R.E.S.C.U.E. for intel on Rage. How did they work all of this out?" Coulson asked.

"It gets more complicated, I'm afraid." Bobbi sighed.

"Well, I'll be the first to say that's not possible." Lincoln stated.

"What is it? Does it explain Rage's vendetta against these people?" Coulson asked.

"No, but it does explain how the people are linked. I checked out the newspaper clippings that were in the file I mentioned; they were all from unknown papers for the most part, but were all about the same subject." Daisy said.

"What subject?" Coulson asked.

"…The Young Gods." Daisy revealed.

"What, the group of street terrorists who killed Maya Anderson's husband and son?" Mack asked and Daisy nodded.

"So we can assume that all these people are members of The Young Gods." Daisy added.

"The file was named 'TYG' – The Young Gods." Coulson realised.

"Exactly." Bobbi nodded.

"So Rage's victims have been either members of The Young Gods themselves or the children of The Young Gods, and R.E.S.C.U.E. and therefore Maya Anderson have details on them, more than what we have?" Lincoln wondered.

"So maybe Anderson and Rage have a common enemy? Or Anderson hired Rage to get revenge on them? How did she even find out their identities?" May speculated.

"I knew Anderson was fishy. Well, I didn't, but I feel like I should say that." Lance stated.

"So Rage's attacks weren't random. He was going after The Young Gods in one way or another. It wasn't the crowds of children that linked Rage's attacks; it was the children of The Young Gods being there." Coulson said, almost in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Coulson. I know you wanted to believe Maya was doing good but she must be implicated in this somehow." Daisy said.

"And that is where we come in." Jemma declared as she and Fitz entered the room, Fitz plugging a USB into the holotable.

"Sorry we're a bit late, we had to transfer some data onto the USB." Fitz said, projecting the image of Rage's DNA as a hologram for everyone.

"No need to fill us in; we heard everything over the intercom. The only good thing to come out of Daisy and Bobbi's discovery is that it makes ours seem a bit less bonkers." Jemma stated.

"This is Rage's DNA that we collected when it attacked the amusement park, which we now know was because they were trying to attack Ruby Black's daughter. Now, if we take away the extra layer of DNA that gives Rage it's ever-evolving powers and any traces of Inhuman compound we get this." Fitz said, typing on the holotable until Rage's DNA sample looked like an average human DNA model.

"With all Inhuman traces removed, we can see the normal human DNA. Which is identical to this." Jemma said, pressing a button and projecting a second DNA sample next to the original. They looked identical.

"They're exactly the same." Joey observed.

"Yes they are." Jemma nodded.

"So who's DNA is that? Where does it come from?" Coulson asked.

"It comes from the data in your hand, sir. This is Maya Anderson's DNA." Fitz revealed, leaving the room catatonic with shock.

"Hang on, wait! I can remember. When Rage took S.H.I.E.L.D.'s location from me; I was in a bathroom with it." Lance revealed with immense shock.

"I do believe you were, yes. And Rage's powers are so evolved that in human form even its DNA can hide Inhuman traces. We underestimated it's power as well as it's gender." Jemma announced. Fitz looked Coulson in the eyes, his expression and mood low.

"Rage and Maya Anderson - they're one and the same."


	10. No Time Like The Present

**10: NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT**

That night, a deadly silence filled The Bus as everyone slept. Well, everyone but May.

Coulson had told her to put the plane on autopilot and get some sleep, but she'd refused. She needed to think things through. So much had happened lately that it was hard to contain her anger.

Friends had been hurt, things hadn't been as they seemed. Maya Anderson was a monster. She was Rage. Maybe she couldn't control it? Part of her hoped she couldn't; she'd hate to kick that pretty little face of hers.

"Mind if I join you?" Lincoln asked as he entered the cockpit. May signalled for him to sit down in the seat next to her as she remained focused on the controls.

"Did you hear it earlier?" Lincoln asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Coulson smashing up his office? Everyone did." May said.

"I had no idea he could get so angry." Lincoln commented.

"Better than taking it out on a person, I guess. He still tries to see the good in people; he hasn't learnt that you shouldn't do that in this job." May said.

"Has he always been like that? So furious with the world?"

"Not always."

"What happened?"

"An Asgardian stabbed him through the chest. Not his favourite day." May answered.

"What's the plan moving forward? How do we deal with this?" Lincoln wondered.

"We'll find a way. We always do." May said.

"It's just that if Rage – Maya - is getting stronger with every second, how do we fight her?" Lincoln asked. May looked at him briefly before returning to looking outwards, saying nothing and yet everything.

"To the death, then." Lincoln added.

…

Fitz was surprised to walk into the workout area to see Jemma thumping away at a punch bag, boxing gloves and all.

"I've been looking for you; wasn't expecting you to be here, though. What are you doing?" Fitz asked, leading Jemma to turn and face him.

"Rage won't stop getting more powerful, so I can't just sit back. We need to train and get stronger so I can defend myself. I'm tired of being one of few people on this plane who can't kill with my bare hands. If we're going to stop Maya we need to be ready for her. It. I don't know how pronouns work in this situation." Jemma explained.

"Fair enough, but boxing? Isn't learning to shoot a better use of time?" Fitz wondered.

"That comes next. I got Mack to develop of training plan for me. Boxing is up first." Jemma said.

"Well then, let's see what you've got." Fitz smiled, picking up some boxing pads and putting them on his hands, holding them up for Jemma to punch at.

"And what do you know about this?" Jemma smiled.

"I'll have you know I did boxing in my younger years." Fitz said.

"Yes, for three weeks. You told me." Jemma teased.

"Well, that's two weeks longer than you and ballet." Fitz retaliated cheekily.

"Hey, you promised to stop teasing me about that! I'm the one wearing boxing gloves, remember." Jemma laughed, punching one of the pads on Fitz's hand and sending him back a step or two, surprising him.

"Not bad. Just don't miss and punch me in the face." Fitz smiled.

"But I might improve it then." Jemma smirked and Fitz rolled his eyes, lightly punching Jemma's shoulder with a pad before she returned to punching at his hands.

"Coulson's not taking this Rage thing well, is he?" Jemma asked in between punches.

"About as well as one may take an enema." Fitz smirked and Jemma laughed before coming to her senses.

"This isn't a laughing matter, Leo! Rage is dangerous. I don't know how we can stop it." Jemma admitted.

"We'll sort it out, don't worry." Fitz said comfortingly.

"I just…what if we all throw ourselves into a war we can't win? What if Rage is too much? I don't want to lose anyone; I don't want to lose _you_. I don't know what I'd do." Jemma admitted tearfully.

"How many times have we said that about things before, eh? We always come out on top, Jemma. And hey, I'm not going anywhere." Fitz smiled, taking the pads off his hands as Jemma took off her gloves and hugged him.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Suddenly, Mack rushed into the room, almost out of breath.

"Fitzsimmons, there you are. We have a big problem." He panted.

"What is it?" Jemma asked.

"Coulson. He's done something stupid." Mack replied sternly.

…

"I'm sorry sir, but this was reckless. Did you think this through, like, at all?" Lance asked as the team stood in the main area of The Bus.

"Maya is dangerous, we know that now. Beyond all doubt. Rage is getting stronger every day, using R.E.S.C.U.E. as some kind of cover for its murders, destroyed out base, killed our agents and wounded our own. I'm not gonna sit back and do nothing. The time to act is now. We have to bring the fight to Maya or Rage or whatever the hell we're fighting – and there is no time like the present." Coulson declared.

"But leaking Rage's identity and its association with R.E.S.C.U.E. to the press with all our research proving the claims? How could you do that without telling anyone?" Daisy questioned.

"Because I'm the Director, and this is my call."

"That's reckless! You're not thinking it through! People are gonna ask questions about the source of the leak; what if a undoubtedly angry President decides to be just as childish and expose S.H.I.E.L.D. again?" Mack asked angrily.

"I'm not sitting back and waiting for another HQ to be destroyed or more agents to be killed. She was after The Young Gods, yes, but to murder them and attempt to harm their children is not acceptable. She has blood on her hands so yes, I'm going to act now and stop her before it's too late. Why does everyone have a problem with me fighting back?" Coulson asked furiously.

"For a guy who lectures everyone constantly about how we're a team, you've made yourself into one hell of a hypocrite. Now we're all gonna face the consequences of what you did. Anything that happens now is on you." Lincoln spat venomously before rushing out, Daisy following him. Everyone else quickly filtered out of the room, leaving Coulson alone. He pleaded to May to side with him, but she shook her head and walked out, barely looking him in the eye.

…

The truth about Maya, Rage and R.E.S.C.U.E. was headline news across the world. Coulson had spent hours avoiding any calls from the President and councils demanding an explanation for his actions. They appreciated knowing the truth, of course, but having the whole world know was the worst thing that could have happened. Newspapers and reporters dug deep and learned more about Maya and The Young Gods. Appeals were being made to find the members that were still alive and take them into custody; raiding their homes had found they'd all gone on the run. It seemed to be a hopeless situation.

Coulson sat in silence at his desk for hours before he received a message over coms.

"Sir, there's a broadcast signal trying to hack into your personal line." Fitz revealed.

"I wonder who that could be." Coulson sighed.

"Shall we keep blocking them?"

"No, let's just get this over with." Coulson said and turned on the screen in front of him, but was surprised to not be greeted by the President, but by a dishevelled and distressed Maya Anderson.

"How did you get this number? Same way you got information from Lance, I assume? Extracting information at the pier, huh?" Coulson asked.

Maya was silent.

"You called me; I know you want to talk. I take it your little mind tricks are what got the President on your side to set up R.E.S.C.U.E. for you, am I right?" Coulson speculated. Eventually, Maya nodded.

"To cover up your tracks. Who would suspect the woman attempting to bring human and Inhuman peace was actually a murderous Inhuman herself? Very clever." Coulson said.

"Enough. You've made me a fugitive. I will not forgive that. You made this personal." Maya seethed.

"You started it." Coulson retaliated.

"You think I'm a monster? I'm not. I didn't choose to be this way, you know. You try some fish oil and then it all went wrong. I can't control the changes, but I can hardly argue with the creature's results." Maya stated.

"YOUR results."

"No, you see that's not how I see it. We're two separate entities. I would never kill or hurt anyone, but the creature would. It's the creature with all the powers, not me." Maya explained.

"It's still your actions."

"But it's not my choice. If an Inhuman that could manipulate fire accidentally burns down a forest because they have no control, is it their fault? Or an Inhuman accidentally freezing a lake and all the fish with it? Maybe…an Inhuman causing an earthquake and burying a village?" Maya said.

"You really know how to push my buttons, don't you?"

"The one power terrigenesis didn't give me." Maya smiled.

"Okay, enough chat. Why the spontaneous video chat?" Coulson demanded.

"You want answers? Perhaps I want to give them to you?"

"I'm fed up of getting answers; I never like what I find out. You know, part of me understands your pain and why Rage does what it does, but you've hurt and killed my agents. I'm going to hunt you down and bring you in, Maya. As Rage or not." Coulson stated.

"I can feel it, Phil; the creature is coming out to play again. And you know it'll hunt you down first. Stay out of the way; I can't be held responsible for what may happen or the losses you may suffer." Maya stated.

"Yes you can." Coulson said.

Through the screen, Coulson saw Maya jolt in pain, squeezing her eyes closed and letting out a scream.

"Maya?"

When she reopened her eyes, they were jet black. Her skin started turning navy blue. Rage was coming.

The screen switched off and Coulson turned coms back on.

"Everyone monitor news reports for Rage sightings. Maya's showing her not-so-pretty face again. Bring all the weapons we have."

"I thought you wanted to bring Rage in, not kill it?" Joey asked through his earpiece.

"Either option will suffice at this point. I'm not having it kill anyone else." Coulson stated.

…

The Bus soared towards Central Park; Rage had been spotted there and the news were already reporting on it; S.H.I.E.L.D. had to beat any military that could be sent to stop it. Rage was now putting more innocent people in danger, leaving Coulson determined to stop it. It had to end there.

Coulson spared no expense; the whole team were sent down on two Quinjets just as Rage tore trees apart and lunged for terrified citizens desperately trying to escape its clutches.

"How are we covering this?" Daisy asked May as everyone exited the jets and loaded weapons.

"We're an unbranded team working for the U.S. Army." May replied.

"Remember, there's much more of us this time. If we all keep shooting we should be able to pierce its skin eventually." Coulson shouted as the team ran towards Rage with all they had.

"Pretty big 'if'!" Jemma exclaimed.

"It's the only plan we have; we couldn't sit back and do nothing!" Coulson shouted, taking a few shots at Rage, causing it to see the team and let out a huge roar, leaping across the park towards them.

A shockwave from Daisy sent Rage flying crashing into a fountain. Lincoln fired bolt after bolt of electricity at it, but it seemed to be ineffective, even when combined with a flurry of bullets coming from the rest of the team. Crushing the fountain into rubble, Rage threw chunks at the team.

"LOOK OUT!" Bobbi shouted as everyone tried to move away from the shower of rock. Lincoln, Hunter and Jemma were caught in the chaos and knocked to the ground. Fitz sprinted to Jemma's aid before checking on the other two.

"They're out cold!" Fitz shouted to Coulson as Joey melted a lamppost and threw it at Rage, who smacked it away like it was nothing. It collided with Joey and Bobbi, wiping them out and sending them crashing to the floor.

"Fitz, with me!" Coulson ordered as he shot at Rage, with Fitz joining his side.

"We need to cover all angles." Mack said to May as they kept shooting. Daisy sent another shockwave towards Rage, who leaped into the sky and landed next to her. The crater it caused sent Daisy flying across the park and colliding into May.

Coulson, Fitz and Mack circled Rage and kept shooting, but they all knew they were dangerously low on ammo and Rage seemed unaffected by every single effort of the team. In the back of his mind Coulson had begun to realise he'd gone too far, but ignored the thought.

"No. More. Chances." Rage roared.

"My thoughts exactly." Coulson said, shooting his final bullet Rage. It was heading for right between its eyes, but it simply caught the bullet and with a snarling grimace threw it straight back at Coulson at twice the speed.

"COULSON!" Mack shouted.

Coulson looked into Rage's black eyes. Maybe it was just his time.

He dropped his empty gun and closed his eyes.

…

When he felt nothing, he reopened them and saw a pair of blue eyes staring into his own. Fitz was stood in front of him, a patch of blood growing in size rapidly in the middle of his chest.

Fitz went to speak, but all that came out of his mouth was blood. He fell to the floor, unmoving. Mack rushed to him in a panic.

"TURBO!"

Coulson looked up to see how Rage was inevitably taunting him for what had just happened. But when he did, Rage was nowhere to be seen. Coulson knew why. Rage didn't need to kill them; it had already won.

"COULSON, HE'S NOT BREATHING! COULSON, FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Mack shouted, pushing Coulson to bring him back to reality.

He could barely register what was happening around him, and only watched in bewildered silence as Mack picked up Fitz's limp body and rushed towards a Quinjet.

…

He woke up a few hours later, lying on a bed in the medical bay on The Bus. Jemma was there, of course, and her face lit up as he opened his eyes.

"Leo? Leo? You're okay. You're alright." Jemma smiled, holding Fitz's hand in hers gently.

"W-What…what the hell…?"

"You saved Coulson, Fitz. You're a hero, as always. Had me worried bloody sick, though. Luckily Lincoln came to in time to revive you before we got you to the medical team on The Bus. Don't do it again please." Jemma said with a forced smile.

"…And Rage?" Fitz asked. Jemma's false smile now faded completely, telling Fitz all he needed to know on the matter.

"How are we gonna beat that bastard?" He asked.

"…I have no idea." Jemma replied.

"How's everyone else?"

"Shaken. Injured. You came off worst. Again."

"Just my luck, then." Fitz smiled.

"Stop it, it's not funny."

"Simmons, I'm okay."

"You were shot clean through the chest. You're alive, not okay. We don't know exactly what may have happened to you yet." Jemma explained.

"…How's Coulson?"

"No one's talking to him, and he's not talking to anyone else. I don't think it's ever been this tense." Jemma admitted sadly.

"Marvellous. Well, I've had enough lying down." Fitz said, going to sit up. He stopped almost instantly, his eyes moving around in their sockets in confusion. After a few seconds, his already pale face grew even paler.

"…J-Jemma?"

"Yeah?"

"…I can't feel my legs."

…

 _THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE…_

 _Coulson had been staring at the gravestone in silence for twenty minutes. His tears had just about dried, but he knew another flood of them would come eventually. He barely registered the small footsteps walking up behind him and standing next to him._

" _How're you doing?" Coulson asked in a whisper, turning to the person next to him._

" _About as well as you." They replied with a sniff._

 _Silence._

" _I know how much you loved -"_

" _-Coulson, don't. Please. You're grieving as much as any of us."_

 _They took Coulson's hand in theirs, reading the name carved into the stone over and over, yet still not believing that they were gone._

" _This is my fault." Coulson said._

" _Don't do that to yourself."_

" _I got reckless, you were all right. I should've listened but now…now it's too late to save all of you." Coulson cried almost silently._

" _Sir, this isn't your fault. You know who's to blame, and we'll make them pay in every way they deserve to."_

"… _I thought you didn't want any more pain." Coulson sighed._

" _That was before…before it ended like this." They sobbed, placing a bouquet at the base of the grave._

" _I'll leave you to it; I'll go and check on the others." They added, squeezing Coulson's hand and walking off as more tears flowed down their cheeks._

 _Coulson knelt before the gravestone and lowered his head._

" _I won't let this be for nothing, I swear." He swore, standing up again._

 _As memories entered his head and a tear left his eye, he rubbed the top of the gravestone fondly and respectfully._

" _I'm so sorry."_

 _With that, he turned and headed back. Coulson knew that they would have forgiven him, but they were gone._

 _And for that, he would never stop blaming himself._


	11. 2-28 Psychosis

**11: 2.28 PSYCHOSIS**

The high pitch screeching of the alarm filled the room at 7am. It took a good minute or two before Fitz found the strength to open his eyes, reach his arm to his side and switch it off. A cold sweat had come over him yet again in the middle of the night. He felt like he was sleeping in Hell. If you asked him he'd say he probably was.

"Take your time, ease back into it. Rest as much as you need."

He'd heard those words from so many different people over the past month. Why would he want to stay in bed and just rest? It wasn't going to change what had happened. All it would do is remind him even more of what he could no longer do.

Grabbing the bed post, he pulled himself to the edge of the bed and his new daily ritual began. As always, he'd stare at the crappy S.H.I.E.L.D. branded wheelchair sat at the side of his bed, an echo of his old life, and hope he'd soon wake up from whatever nightmare he must be in. His room on The Bus was small enough even before he had to squeeze that bloody thing in.

At first, either Jemma or Mack would help him out of bed and into the chair every morning, but he very quickly got fed up with that. He didn't care if he fell on his arse trying, he'd get into that bloody wheelchair by his bloody self. He liked to think of it as being battered, not broken.

His shaky hands squeezed the metallic rims of the chair tightly as he threw himself into it. He remained sat in it as he put on some fresh clothes. It took a while, but he always got there in the end.

As he rolled out of his room and heard one wheel squeak, he made a mental note to ask Mack if he could oil the chair. Again.

It was a piece of garbage, but with so much money lost with HQ's destruction he'd told Coulson to save money and let him make do with a chair from the medical bay. It did the job, after all.

Jemma was surprised to see him as he entered the lab, instantly putting down the beakers she was inspecting and rushing towards him.

"Fitz, I told you not to come in today. Coulson said you could rest as much as you needed to." Jemma said softly.

"Yeah, and I don't need to. I'm a big boy, Simmons; I don't want to sit in my room feeling sorry for myself all day." Fitz said.

"I understand that, but it's only been a month. I just…I don't want you to push yourself too much too fast." Jemma said, worried.

"As if you'll let me. Besides, if I actually work in here you won't come checking on me every ten minutes." Fitz sighed, making his way to his work station.

"It wasn't every ten minutes."

"I counted."

He reached for a book on his desk, but his arm couldn't reach that far back anymore. Jemma rushed over, picked up the book and handed it to him.

"…Thanks." Fitz whispered.

"No problem."

"We'll have to lower my desk a bit." Fitz added.

"Leo, you don't need to be strong. You don't need to try and prove anything. No one sees you any differently." Jemma said.

"Oh, really? So you always used to check in on me thirty times a day, did you? Hunter used to avoid making any jokes around me, did he? May used to smile at me all the time, did she? _Everyone_ sees me differently; they think I'm useless and if I can't even reach a bloody book on MY desk then -"

"-Leo, stop it."

"WHY SHOULD I? Why can't I moan? Do I not have a right to? Am I just allowed to be okay with this then? Because I'm not! I'm angry all the bloody time. I'm angry at the world and I'm angry at myself, so why the hell am I not allowed to say what everyone is thinking and just let it all out?" Fitz argued furiously. Tears filled Jemma's eyes.

"Because you're breaking my heart."

Fitz stared at her, unable to find any words for a long time. He became overwhelmed by a feeling to escape; it physically pained him to see Jemma cry, especially when she was crying over him.

"I, um…I'm gonna go find Mack. The wheel's a bit squeaky, so…yeah." He whispered then hurried out of the room. Jemma watched him and cried silently the second he left her sight.

…

Coulson walked into the interrogation room and was greeted by a surprised Dr Andrew Garner, his eyebrows rising at his presence.

"You're early. Your appointment's in 17 minutes."

"Can't say I had a lot else to do. Plus, when May forces me to come to one of these it's best to not risk being late." Coulson said, sitting opposite Andrew at the table in the centre of the room.

"She hates showing it, but Melinda does care." Andrew smiled.

"Why did she ask you to come? I'm fine." Coulson said.

"If that were true, you wouldn't have come. You'd have faced her wrath." Andrew stated. Coulson said nothing.

Andrew switched on a tape recorder next to him.

"The time is 2.28pm. Patient is Director Phillip Coulson. Interview is conducted by Doctor Andrew Garner and the following recordings are for his examination only." Andrew stated, looking up at Coulson and staying silent for a moment, reading his face.

"How's Agent Fitz doing?" Andrew asked eventually.

"He has good days and bad days. He's better than he was, but I guess that's just time. It's been a tough month for him. Simmons has barely left his side; neither has Mack. We're all doing our bit." Coulson explained, unable to look Andrew in the eye.

"…And you blame yourself?" Andrew speculated.

"Of course I do."

"Why?"

"Because it was my fault. Fitz was braver than me and yet he paid the price. He saved me; he's the hero and yet he's the one who lost something." Coulson admitted sadly.

"He made the choice to save his Director. You had no control over the vents. If anyone should be blamed it's this Maya Anderson woman." Andrew said.

"Rage. Rage did it, not Maya. I'm not sure she can control her actions when transformed." Coulson said.

"Even so, we should agree that the blame should not be placed on you, Coulson." Andrew said.

"I knew bullets couldn't stop it yet shot at it anyway; I gave it more ammo to use against us. I risked my whole damn team with next to no plan. I'd have never done that a few years back. I don't know what's wrong with me." Coulson sighed.

"I read the file on this Inhuman. If it could manipulate Agent Hunter, perhaps it's done the same to you? Got inside your head?" Andrew suggested.

"Maybe, but I don't want to think that." Coulson said.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm tired of shifting the blame all the time."

"I'm not sure I understand." Andrew said. Coulson took a moment.

"Do you know why I'm happy to take the blame? Because that way no one else has to feel that burden. Guilt is the heaviest weight for anyone to hold." Coulson explained.

"We all have guilt; there's no way of sparing someone of that." Andrew said.

"I know, but I save my agents from what I can. Fitz can barely get out of bed by himself or reach his desk whereas I can freely walk about this plane like nothing's happened. That's not fair and that's on me." Coulson said.

"You look exhausted, Phil."

"I am exhausted. I'm exhausted all the time. Maybe I'm too old for this. Maybe I should just retire? Go on vacation to somewhere hot?" Coulson said.

"Tahiti?" Andrew suggested with a smirk.

"Tahiti." Coulson nodded with a muffled chuckle.

"I can prescribe some medication for you; you need to get a lot of sleep." Andrew said calmly.

"I don't have the time. It's been a month and Maya and Rage have both vanished from the radar. We have nothing to go on. A month gone by and I've got a HQ no closer to being rebuilt, a shaken team, a broken scientist and no leads. Even R.E.S.C.U.E. seemed to have disappeared according to a very angry President I spoke to last week." Coulson said, his head in his hands.

"You've faced problems like this time and time again. S.H.I.E.L.D. always finds a way. YOU always find a way." Andrew stated.

"We've always found a way, but I think they've chiselled away at me. I started out a boulder and now I'm barely a pebble." Coulson said.

"You're wondering how much more you can take?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah. I've let everyone down with R.E.S.C.U.E. and Maya and Rage. All I've brought the team is destruction and pain. I've ruined them." Coulson groaned.

"This is their job, and their choice."

"And they're doing their jobs better than I am. They've called me out a few times recently, and they were right to. Maybe…maybe I'm just not cut out for this anymore. Maya fooled me. The world is counting on us to find Rage and stop it but we can't even find it." Coulson admitted.

"This guilt you feel is overwhelming you." Andrew said.

"I know it is, but I can't help that. I deserve the guilt I feel."

Andrew spent a few moments looking into Coulson's dazed, bloodshot eyes before switching off the tape recorder.

"I shouldn't let you continue work, but at the same time getting this job done might be the only way of curing your underlying feelings of guilt. You need to look past them and use them to fuel the fire inside of you to get this done. Even if you can't believe in yourself just yet, believe in your team." Andrew said.

"…You're right. I'll get this done. Even if it's my last mission. Even if it kills me." Coulson nodded.

"I'll get you some medication to help you sleep. Possibly some kind of anti-depressant. I've seen you at your worst Phil, and you're not there yet. You're not at that point where I can't recognise you. This isn't for you what Bahrain was to Melinda." Andrew said.

"…Maybe." Coulson whispered.

Andrew leant over the desk and placed a hand on Coulson's shoulder.

"I'm gonna stick around for a few days, if that's alright? Keep an eye on everyone. Simmons asked me to talk to Fitz." Andrew said.

"Good idea. It might keep Melinda off my back too." Coulson smirked.

"Because she'll be on mine instead? Yeah, wonderful." Andrew smiled, shaking Coulson's hand.

"I firmly believe you'll find a way, Phil." Andrew added.

"Thank you." Coulson smiled gently.

…

"There you go, Turbo. That should stop the squeaky wheel." Mack smiled as he sat with Fitz in his workshop.

"Thanks, Mack." Fitz said.

"Jemma won't be happy. She probably liked being able to track your movements." Mack chuckled.

"Yeah. Probably." Fitz smiled slightly.

"Fitz, you know if I could have traded places with you that day I -"

"-Please, don't. I don't want people feeling sorry for me. I know you all don't think I'm strong enough to handle this." Fitz sighed.

"We all know you're strong enough, Turbo, but that doesn't mean we want you to go through this." Mack said.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Me too."

Jemma rushed in, smiling at the two men.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt."

"No problem, Simmons, I was just fixing the chair for him." Mack said.

"Sorry, I'll head back to the lab now." Fitz said.

"Okay. Your mum was phoning after you, that's all." Jemma smiled.

"Of course. Okay, let's go." Fitz said, Jemma rolling him out of the room and waving to Mack as they went.

After a few minutes of silence heading down the corridor, Jemma had a thought that made her smile.

"It's a good workout for your arms, using the chair isn't it? Your arms are going to get huge." Jemma smirked.

"…Yeah, they'll be bigger than Mack's soon enough." Fitz smiled cheekily, making Jemma giggle.

"I'm sorry about earlier, Jemma." Fitz sighed.

"Don't worry about it, honestly. I understand things must be hard for you, but you do know I'll be there for you every single step of the way?" Jemma asked, stopping and kneeling in front of Fitz with a warm smile.

"I know. I'm lucky to have you."

"I'm lucky to have _you_." Jemma smiled, kissing Fitz on the cheek. They stared at one another for a moment before Jemma stood up and carried on pushing Fitz along the corridor, their guts telling them that despite everything, things were going to be okay.

…

 _THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE…_

" _This isn't okay. We need to do something."_

" _What do you expect me to do? Except any of us to do? We can't bring them back. It breaks my heart, but we can't." Coulson said sadly._

" _We can get revenge. We can kill them."_

" _I don't know how." Coulson sighed, his head in his hands._

" _We'll find a way. We have to."_

 _They walked out, leaving Coulson alone with the darkest of thoughts._


	12. Homeostasis

**12: HOMEOSTASIS**

May was surprised when she heard a knock on the door of her room; most people wouldn't dare try and disturb her at the best of times. However, she recognised that knock so didn't hesitate in getting up and opening the door, even giving a rare smile as she did.

"Melinda." Andrew nodded with a warm grin.

"Andrew. Come on in." May said, walking back to her desk as Andrew followed, closing the door behind him.

"You and Coulson had a very long talk then?" May added, looking at her watch.

"Not particularly; I've been to talk to Agent Fitz as well." Andrew corrected.

"How's he doing?" May asked.

"Fitz or Coulson?"

"Both."

"You ever heard of 'Patient Confidentiality'?" Andrew smirked.

"Andrew, it's _me_." May said.

"Fitz is doing well, all things considered. He's just clearly frustrated by such rapid changes; he's a fan of thing staying the same and being in control. Time's the best healer in his case, especially with the amount of support he's getting from everyone. Especially Agent Simmons." Andrew revealed.

"You know how tight those two are. We're all helping him through it however we can. If it were me I'd have screamed the place down a dozen times by now." May stated.

"I know." Andrew smiled.

"…And Coulson?" May asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Overwhelmed with guilt. It comes with his job but it's hitting him worse than I've ever seen. He's keeping a lot inside and shutting everyone out so he can't bring them down with him." Andrew said.

"I've always called him The Man Who Cares Too Much." May said.

"Again, time will tell how his case progresses. Catching this Inhuman should certainly improve his attitude. He's not in a good place Melinda. I'm worried. I'm worried about all of you; everything with this Rage monster and R.E.S.C.U.E. has you all shaken up." Andrew sighed.

"…I know. We do our best."

"I know you do. You're coping the best from what I can tell. But I guess that's just what you do, huh?" Andrew teased.

"I try my best. I'll look after them all, I promise. We'll all look after each other. We're a team, after all, no matter how hard Rage tries to tear us apart." May said collectively.

Andrew cautiously shuffled over to sit next to May on the edge of her bed, tentatively taking her hand in his.

"If you ever need me, you can still call me. You know that, right?" Andrew asked in a whisper.

"…I know."

"Even if it's just to hear my voice."

"…I know. Thank you, Andrew."

…

"Fitz! I need you. Not in a sexual way." Lance said as he walked into the lab and approached Fitz, who was sat in his chair at his newly lowered desk examining blueprints.

"What's up?" Fitz asked.

"My earpiece has stopped working; it just gets a crackling sound. Dunno what happened to it." Lance explained. Fitz sighed heavily.

"You dropped it in the bath again, didn't you?"

"…No."

"The circuit's fried; I'll get Simmons to manufacture you a new one." Fitz said.

"Simmons? I thought you were the engineering one?" Lance asked.

"Well, I am, but the machine that installs the circuit boards into the device itself was salvaged from HQ so it's a bit battered. It needs a good kick at the right time to work properly. As you can see, kicking isn't really my speciality right now." Fitz said, gesturing towards his legs.

"Mate, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up." Lance said.

"It's okay, I know you didn't. My legs are paralysed; no point in pretending they're not." Fitz said, forcing a smile.

…

Lance stumbled into the living area and sighed as he fell into a couch. Most of the team watched him in confusion.

"What is it now?" Bobbi asked.

"I dropped myself in it with Fitz. I didn't mean to but I did." Lance groaned.

"Poor guy." Joey sighed as he poured himself a coffee.

"He's putting on a brave face, but it's still killing him." Daisy said sadly. Lincoln wrapped his arms around her comfortingly and kissed the top of her head.

"It would kill him to know you're gossiping about him behind his back, too." Jemma stated as she walked into the room.

"Where the bloody hell did you come from?" Lance said, jumping up from the couch in fright.

"I had to talk to Mack about something." Jemma said.

"We just care about him, Jemma, that's all." Bobbi said.

"Then maybe you should tell that to Fitz himself; you know, the man who might actually need to hear that right now?" Jemma suggested.

"Good point." Lincoln muttered under his breath.

"Leo appreciates things being stable and the same; homeostasis, if you will. We just need to remind him of that. If we can make him feel stable and in control, he'll get through this just fine." Jemma said.

"Good idea, Simmons." Coulson said, appearing at the doorway and making Lance jump again.

"Jesus! Are you guys teleporting or something?" Lance muttered in shock.

"We don't have any leads as to the whereabouts of Maya and/or Rage right now, Simmons. If you want to focus on Fitz's rehabilitation right now, I won't object to it. The rest of us can keep busy searching for leads." Coulson said and Jemma smiled brightly.

"Thank you, sir."

With that, Jemma rushed out of the room.

"Now seriously, do you have silent shoe technology or something?" Lance questioned.

…

"Jemma?" Fitz asked, knocking on Jemma's room door a little while later. Quickly, the door slid open and a wonderful scent filled Fitz's nose.

"Come on in. Time for dinner!" Jemma smiled.

"I know that smell." Fitz grinned as he rolled further into the room and saw the unmistakable sight of food from Renly's Burgers, Jemma and Fitz's favourite burger place, spread out across Jemma's bed.

"I thought it'd been a while since we had Renly's for dinner. Our weekly tradition sort of faded recently after everything; it's about time to start it up again." Jemma smiled, handing a burger and chips to a salivating Fitz.

"How did you even get this? We're on a plane." Fitz asked as he tucked in right away.

"A lot of eye fluttering when we stopped for a refuel earlier." Jemma smirked happily.

"Ah, a power I have yet to master." Fitz commented and Jemma laughed.

"I'd forgotten how good this was." Jemma smiled in between bites.

"I know, I'm in love." Fitz agreed.

"Do you remember the first time we had Renly's?" Jemma asked.

"Of course I do. The first time we ever stayed up studying together at the Academy. There was a Renly's down the road." Fitz recalled happily.

"Their faces were a picture when you went back for another meal half an hour later." Jemma chuckled.

"I was a growing lad!" Fitz exclaimed.

"You're just a pig, admit it." Jemma teased.

"Maybe I am." Fitz smiled.

After they finished their meals, Fitz pulled himself onto Jemma's bed (with a bit of help) and the two were left lying next to each other with satisfied smiles on their faces after an amazing dinner.

"I'm stuffed." Jemma said.

"Me too." Fitz smiled.

Fitz turned his head to face Jemma and smiled at her, looking deep into her hazel eyes.

"Thanks for this."

"What?" Jemma asked.

"The food. I appreciate the normality of it." Fitz said.

"I thought you might. And it's my pleasure." Jemma said.

"You're the best person in the world, you know that?" Fitz asked.

"Second only to you." Jemma corrected with a smile, shuffling closer to Fitz and resting her head on his shoulder with her arms around his waist. After a short delay, he wrapped an arm around her and smiled gently.

Within ten minutes, they were both sound asleep.

…

Coulson was searching through news articles when he heard Daisy's voice in his earpiece.

"Coulson, come to the briefing room. I think I've got a lead, but you won't like it. I know I don't."

It didn't take long for Coulson to rush into the briefing room, where Daisy, Lincoln, May, Andrew, Mack, Lance, Bobbi and Joey were waiting for him.

"What have you got?" Coulson asked.

"Well, remember that file Maya had in R.E.S.C.U.E.'s database? The one labelled 'TYG'?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah, the one all about The Young Gods." Coulson recalled.

"That's the one. Well, I finished going through all the files and data in there and got into all the encrypted files." Daisy explained.

"And?" Coulson prompted. Daisy sighed.

"There's another member of The Young Gods, joined not long before their last known attack before Rage must have scared them off when it started killing them. If we can track him down, inevitably Rage must be going after him too. The files didn't have much on him, but I'm certain she has more than enough intel now." Daisy explained.

"How come?" Coulson asked.

"I think Maya wanted, or needed, to get close to S.H.I.E.L.D. and did a great job of hiding it. She could've extracted the information from you or Lance like she did before to get HQ's location when she had the chance to." Daisy said.

"But why would we have intel on a member of The Young Gods?" Coulson wondered. Daisy gulped.

"Because he was a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Who?" Coulson asked.

Daisy very reluctantly placed a photo down on the table for everyone to see; the blood left their faces as they were greeted by the sight of an all too familiar face.

Grant Ward.


	13. The New Lead

**13: THE NEW LEAD**

The room filled with a cold silence the second they all saw Ward's picture placed on the table. So many emotions filled every person standing there; anger, frustration, dread, hatred. And right next to those emotions were memories; some happy, some painful, all devastating.

"No way. We can't go anywhere near the guy." Lance objected.

"Hunter, it's our only lead." Bobbi argued.

"You think I care? This is Grant Ward we're talking about; he's not gonna help us! We'd be lucky to say two words to him before he shot at us. If he's been running away from Rage then what could he possibly know that could help us?" Lance asked.

"The only way to find out would be asking him. To be honest, I wouldn't mind using him as bait to lure Rage out of hiding if need be." Daisy suggested.

"I'd be okay with that." May added.

"The man's a psychopath and a murderer. Do we really want to bring him into this crazy little game we're already playing?" Mack questioned.

"But if it's your only lead -" Andrew began.

"-Sorry Doctor Phil, but this isn't your place." Lance stated.

"Hunter, calm down." May warned.

"No! The man is a monster!" Lance exclaimed.

"A monster who hasn't been on our radar for months, probably over a year. Rage is a monster who has. There's no debate here, surely?" Bobbi wondered.

"I can't say I know the guy, but if he's our only lead it makes sense to follow it." Joey commented.

"I agree." Lincoln nodded.

"Fitzsimmons won't agree to this." Mack said solemnly.

"I think they would; they want Rage caught more than anyone. Fitz is in a wheelchair because of that thing." Daisy said sadly.

"Coulson?" May prompted, silencing everyone. Coulson had remained staring into Ward's eyes as if they were piercing his soul.

"I hate Grant Ward more than anyone on this Earth. I don't like the thought of contacting him at all, but they're right – it's our only option." Coulson said.

"I don't believe this." Lance said, shaking his head.

"Hunter, saying his name makes my blood boil, but I'm not gonna wait for Rage to hurt anyone else. I see you all as family, and Rage put a member of my family in a chair. It needs to pay for that, and I want to see justice done as soon as we can. You need to put your personal feelings aside and think like an agent about this. Think of the bigger picture." Coulson explained. After a moment, Lance nodded slowly.

"Fine." Lance relented.

"Okay. For Turbo." Mack nodded.

"So how do we find him?" Lincoln asked.

"That's the easy part. We've been tracking him ever since our last encounter; we have two agents tasked with following and tracking his every move, permanently stationed wherever Ward goes. I hoped we'd never have to use their intel but I'll contact them. I think he's still in a summer house he bought in Greece." Coulson revealed.

"Where did he get the money for that?" Joey wondered.

"A question I doubt I want the answer to." Coulson replied.

"Only question is now…who's gonna go and see him?" Daisy asked.

The room fell silent once more.

…

"Ugh, Ward. Can you believe it?" Jemma asked Fitz in the lab later that day as some of the team packed their bags to be dropped off in Greece.

"Can't get rid of the bastard." Fitz grumbled.

"Do you know who they're sending to confront him?" Jemma wondered.

"Uh…Coulson, Daisy and Joey." Fitz answered.

"I hope they get something out of the encounter, at least." Jemma sighed.

"I don't think I could do it. Look him in the eye again after…well, everything." Fitz said sadly.

Jemma looked at Fitz for a moment before stepping away from her desk and reaching down to take his hand, giving him a soft smile.

"I just try and remember the good times we had. I do genuinely believe we were his friends, at least for a little while." Jemma said.

"Yeah. I'd like to hope so." Fitz nodded.

"Well, I have to talk to Mack about something quickly." Jemma said, jumping up and heading out.

"Again? You've been having meetings with him a lot over the last few weeks." Fitz asked.

"Oh, you know how it is. Secret agent business and that." Jemma chuckled.

"…Are you, um…are you two, like…you know…?" Fitz mumbled, looking down.

"NO! Goodness, no! It's not…we're not…no, nothing like that. It's all very professional. I mean, I don't…he's not my type." Jemma stated nervously.

"Really? I mean, it's just, he's always reminded me of that James you dated for a bit a few years back." Fitz said shyly.

"James? I'll admit there are a few similarities, but that also lasted for less than two weeks. I'm surprised you remember him." Jemma said.

"I remember all of them. Not that there were that many, I mean, I'm not saying that you're, like -"

"-I know, Fitz. Don't worry."

"I mean, Mack's great, I wouldn't be surprised if you -"

"-Leo, there's nothing going on. Okay? And all those guys are exes for a reason. I've spent a while recently… _readjusting_ my type. A lot's happened lately, what with Rage and everything, and people I care about have been hurt…it's put things into perspective." Jemma explained, her eyes fixated on Fitz, who was working on something on a tablet by this point.

"Yeah, me too." Fitz nodded, looking up at Jemma and meeting her eye contact for a brief moment before looking down again.

"I better get going."

"Yeah, see ya."

…

The flight to Greece went by without a hitch, and Coulson, Daisy and Joey were dropped off a few miles out from Ward's location according to their intel. One rental car journey later, they pulled up outside of a beautifully white summer house, the rays of the sun bouncing off it in a way that made it seem it was shining.

"Weapons primed but hidden. As much as I hate to say it, we don't want him dead." Coulson ordered as he, Daisy and Joey exited the vehicle in suitable attire for the environment.

"Man, the heat and I have never mixed well." Joey sighed, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Is it okay that I'm pretty nervous right now?" Daisy asked.

"I'd be worried if you weren't." Coulson said, placing a reassuring hand on Daisy's shoulder.

"Okay. Let's go." Daisy nodded, determined.

The three rushed towards the front door and halted at the entrance.

"Proceed with caution." Coulson said sternly.

"Uh, sir?" Joey said, gesturing towards the door. Coulson looked and saw it was slightly ajar.

"That can't be good, can it?" Daisy asked.

"It's Ward, it was never gonna be good." Coulson said.

"Come on in, it's boiling out there."

The voice that had come from inside was unfamiliar to Joey, but brought back memories for Coulson and Daisy.

"He knew we were coming?" Daisy whispered. Coulson pushed the door and headed inside.

…

The Bus had been moved a short distance out from where Coulson and the others had been dropped off, hovering in silence and cloaked to avoid detection.

"And now we wait it out until Coulson sees what Ward knows." May declared as she entered the living area, where most of the team were sat waiting.

"If he knows anything at all, that is." Lance groaned.

"Let's just hope there's something to gain from this." Bobbi said as Lincoln rushed in, panic plastered across his face.

"We've got a problem." He exclaimed.

"What is it?" May asked.

"Facial recognition software picked up Maya Anderson." Lincoln revealed.

"She finally showed her face? Where is she?" Bobbi asked.

"The airport."

"Which airport?"

"…The one a few miles away."

"Rage can't fly, but Maya Anderson still can." May said, panicked.

"Well, crap." Lance said.

"Contact Coulson. NOW."

…

Coulson, Daisy and Joey slowly walked into a brightly lit room, one wall being taken up by a large panoramic window offering a gorgeous view of a small Greek town surrounded by a luscious blue sea.

Looking out of it, hands behind his back, was Grant Ward.

"Don't use this opportunity to shoot me, please." Ward smirked, turning around to face the small group.

"You were expecting us." Coulson said.

"I spotted your little S.H.I.E.L.D. puppets following me months ago, but today they were getting a little closer than normal in their observations, almost as if the big boss wanted specific details. As such, I expected you to show." Ward explained.

"Clever." Coulson commented.

"Very. It's good to see you." Ward said.

"Get me a bucket." Daisy sighed, looking around and trying her best to hide how jealous she was of Ward's fancy abode.

"Hello, Skye. How are you?" Grant asked, stepping forward with a small smile.

"It's Daisy now."

"Why?"

"Because that's my name."

"You seemed so attached to the name Skye; it's surprised me you changed it."

"Well, I've got a few suggestions if you're considering a name change." Daisy snapped. Ward chuckled before his eyes met Joey's.

"And who's this?" Ward wondered.

"Joey Gutierrez. I'm pretty new." Joey replied.

"Ah, the honeymoon phase of S.H.I.E.L.D. employment. It passes." Ward remarked.

"Especially when you're actually a Hydra slave the entire time." Daisy fought back. Ward smiled again.

"I've missed you, Skye."

"Daisy."

"You'll always be Skye to me."

"You'll always be a prick to me."

"We don't have time for this. We're only here as a last resort. We need information." Coulson began.

"Tell me more." Ward sighed, sitting in a chair at the corner of the room.

"We'd wondered why you suddenly started travelling all over the world. Now we realise you were running." Coulson added.

"Why would you say that?"

"We know you were a member of The Young Gods." Joey said. The blood drained from Ward's face.

"Big announcement all over the news; a new organisation named R.E.S.C.U.E. run by the woman whose husband and son you killed? Of course you'd run. And you were right to; she had a file on you. And that's not all." Coulson explained.

"What?" Ward asked instantly.

"She's an Inhuman." Daisy said. She almost wanted to read the expression on Ward's face as one of fear.

"And she's been making each member of The Young Gods pay. You're the last one left. The one she can't find." Joey said.

"How did she work out who we all were?" Ward asked.

"I wish I knew." Coulson replied.

"You expect me to have information on someone I'm running from? You must be truly, utterly desperate to come all this way." Ward smirked.

Suddenly, Coulson's mobile buzzed. He picked it up and answered it.

"What is it?" He asked.

The ground began to shake.

"What are you doing?" Joey asked, turning to Daisy.

"It's not me." Daisy said, concern on her face. Coulson slowly lowered his phone, looking petrified.

"Well, shi-"

A wall blew to pieces, sending everyone flying to the ground in a cloud of pale dust. Emerging from the cloud, Rage.

"Grant. Ward." It hissed, jet black eyes fixated on a bewildered looking Ward.

"What the hell?" He coughed as everyone got back on their feet. Daisy sent a shockwave towards Rage, but it continued walking closer without breaking a sweat.

"Remember when I said Maya was an Inhuman?" Daisy asked. Ward looked at her and back at Rage in disbelief.

"Wow, you really drew the short straw, huh?" Ward teased, leading Rage to let out a piercing roar.

"Glenn. Kiaden." Rage muttered.

"Who and who?" Ward wondered.

"Her husband and son." Joey clarified.

"I see." Ward acknowledged.

"…You didn't…even know…their names?" Rage roared.

"The only name I associated with them was Anderson. They were related to you; you're the one who got them killed." Ward exclaimed, leading Rage to _scream_ , shattering all the windows and forcing everyone to cover their ears before their skulls shattered.

Rage tore a chunk of the wall away and lunged it at Ward, who dived out of the way, pulled out a gun and started shooting as everyone else took cover.

"Bullets don't work!" Coulson shouted.

"I'm not going out without a fight!" Ward retaliated.

"How did it find us?" Joey exclaimed.

"The…connection." Rage shouted, throwing more debris around and destroying the house. The agents that had been following Ward for months rushed in and shot at Rage, who turned around and threw its hands into their chests, tearing them into pieces.

"NO!" Coulson shouted with pure fury, forcing him to get his gun out and shoot with Ward.

Daisy stood up and raised her hands to the ceiling, which began to shake and crumble rapidly.

"What are you doing, Skye?" Ward demanded.

"Raising the roof. Literally. AND IT'S DAISY!"

The roof collapsed and everyone ducked as the whole house caved in with an almighty crash. After a moment, Coulson, Daisy and Joey crawled out of the rubble and dusted themselves off.

"Ward?" Daisy asked. Coulson looked around just in time to see Ward reach the end of the cliff on which his house had been built, turn around briefly then jump into the water below.

"Son of a bitch." Coulson cursed.

"Guys!" Joey exclaimed as the pile of rubble returned to life and Rage burst out.

"WHERE IS GRANT WARD?" It exploded.

"Gone." Coulson answered.

Rage screamed again and held out its arms. Electricity began to flow across its body, sending a few sparks out of the tips of its fingers.

"Well, that's new." Daisy commented, startled by Rage's newest ability.

With another roar, Rage sent a massive bolt of blinding electricity towards Coulson.

"No!" Joey exclaimed, pushing Coulson out of the way as the bolt hit him instead, sending him flying ten metres across the ground.

"JOEY!" Daisy shouted, rushing towards him as Rage prepared itself for another attack.

Just then, a Quinjet appeared and started firing at Rage with all it had. Irritated and furious, Rage screamed one final time before leaping across the town and quickly out of sight. Coulson looked up and nodded at May, who was inside the cockpit and nodded back.

"COULSON!" Daisy wailed as Coulson ran over to her and Joey, who was lying on the ground, occasionally flinching but mostly motionless.

"There's no heartbeat!" Daisy cried, a tear rushing down her face as she hopelessly turned to Coulson, who turned on his earpiece.

"Get a medical team to my location. NOW!"


	14. Forwards

**14: FORWARDS**

 _THE NOT TOO DISTANT FUTURE…_

 _It took Coulson half an hour to force himself out of bed, just like it had been for the past week. Ever since that terrible, gut-wrenching day; the day S.H.I.E.L.D. lost one of their own._

 _He couldn't remember exactly when he'd started wearing ties again. At first he stopped because he had yet to master his false hand, but once he got comfortable with it he'd started up again. Today, he didn't put on a tie. He threw one what he could find and headed straight for his office – giving no orders and talking to no one._

 _The Bus reeked of grief. It was everywhere, like an infection. Not everyone was present when the fallen agent had taken their last breath, but they all felt like they had been. They'd all been cut and it appeared as if this was a wound that would never heal._

 _Coulson sat at his desk, wishing there was a way to go back in time. Had he just made a few little changes, decided against some actions…everyone he loved would still be safe. Be alive._

 _There was a knock at the door to his office. It had been a while since he's spoken so had to clear his throat first._

" _C-Come in."_

 _The young man entered the room with a cautious smile, tentatively walking up to the desk._

" _Sorry to interrupt you, sir."_

 _"We all know I wasn't doing anything important, Agent Gutierrez."_

" _I'm still sorry." Joey said softly._

" _What do you need?" Coulson asked._

" _I was just…I was asked to deliver this for you to sign off. It's the update to their file to say that…to say…"_

" _To update their status as 'deceased'. Thank you, Joey. Is that all?" Coulson asked, taking the file from Joey's hand and slamming it onto the desk._

" _No, sir. I'll leave you to it." Joey sighed, heading for the door._

" _How is everyone doing?" Coulson asked suddenly._

"… _As you'd expect them to be doing. Some are being strong, some are in pieces. Dr Garner's busy with grief counselling. Lincoln's not getting out of bed. Hasn't left his room in three days." Joey explained sadly._

" _Understandable, given the circumstances. It wasn't his fault."_

" _It wasn't yours either."_

" _Wasn't it?"_

"… _It was a heroic act. They died a hero." Joey said._

" _You can't even say their name." Coulson sighed._

" _Neither can you."_

 _Saying nothing more, Joey walked out as Coulson tried his best not to cry again._

…

" _Hey, you."_

 _The soft voice filling the lab gave Fitz the biggest amount of comfort he'd felt in days. He was sat at his desk barely concentrating on some blueprints, turning around to see Jemma timidly looking at him._

" _I told you not to work today." Fitz said glumly._

" _I didn't want you to be alone. Now's not the time for loneliness." Jemma said, walking up to his desk and sharing the seat with him._

 _Silence._

" _I don't know what to say." Jemma said, tears in her eyes._

" _Me neither." Fitz said, taking her hand in his as she silently cried into his shoulder._

" _It's not fair."_

" _I know."_

"… _No one's talking." Jemma said, wiping her eyes on Fitz's sleeve (he didn't object to it)._

" _It's hard to face everything that's happened." Fitz said._

" _Do you remember when we first signed up for Coulson's team? He said it'd be dangerous. I never expected it to be heartbreaking." Jemma said, another tear falling down her cheek, Fitz wiped it away with his thumb._

" _We just have to do what we always do." Fitz said._

" _What's that?"_

" _Our best. We have to stop them."_

" _I'm not sure we can, Fitz." Jemma sighed sadly._

" _If we give up, then…then…then they died for nothing."_

"… _I…I…I miss…" Jemma began before crying again, Fitz wrapping his arms around her and growing tearful himself._

" _Me too." He whispered, kissing her hair as a tear fell._

" _I can't lose anyone else. I won't let that happen. If anything happened to you I -"_

" _-Jemma, we're all safe. I'm not going anywhere. If anything we both know you'd cope better without me than if I lost you." Fitz said._

" _Don't say that." Jemma said, her fingers playing with Fitz's collar._

" _It's been decade already, and I wanna be stuck with you for quite a few more yet." Fitz smiled slightly._

" _Me too." Jemma said happily, leaning in and kissing Fitz passionately._

" _I'm still getting used to that." Fitz grinned and Jemma chuckled lightly._

" _Me too." She said, fixing Fitz's hair with her index finger before kissing him again._

…

 _The lifeless body lay on a cold metal table for hours before anyone entered the room. Eventually, two men in suits walked in and observed the corpse in detail._

" _And it's no longer radioactive?" The first man asked._

" _All clear. We had some boys run all the tests." The second replied._

" _I still don't know if we should be doing this." The first said cautiously._

" _This is what R.E.S.C.U.E. was founded for. We're doing what Maya always wanted us to do. Even without her we have to do our jobs as members of R.E.S.C.U.E." The second retaliated._

" _I know, but I feel like we're twisting her wishes."_

" _If we succeed with this, we'll be in the history books."_

"… _Okay. Send them in. Start the experiments." The first sighed nervously. The second man picked up the walkie talkie clipped to his belt._

" _Operation 284 is a go. Now we begin."_


	15. The Martyr

**15: THE MARTYR**

"Your reaction times are ten times better than what they were two weeks ago. You've made an astonishing amount of progress, Joey." Jemma smiled as she examined Joey in the medical bay. It had been a fortnight since the confrontation with Rage and Grant Ward, and after a short period of paralysis, Joey seemed to be very much on the mend. He sat up and laughed.

"Crazy that I couldn't move a thing a few weeks ago. I thought I was a dead man."

"If Rage got their way, you probably would be. Luckily, a certain Mr Campbell is pretty skilful in how to treat electrical-based injuries. Plus, I've recorded your recovery and the drugs and tools we used to heal you in case Rage ever injures someone else." Jemma reported.

"That's good to hear. I don't think I'd be able to cope without my legs." Joey chuckled. Jemma's face dropped at the sight of Fitz entering the room just as he'd said it.

"Oh, Fitz, I -"

"-Don't. It's okay. What's funnier than a disability, right? That's how some people see Inhumans." Fitz said solemnly as he rolled over to Jemma.

"I'm sorry." Joey sighed.

"Of course you are. Jemma, do you know where the data report with Rage's DNA is stored?" Fitz asked.

"Sorry, I was studying it in here. Here you are." Jemma smiled, handing a file to Fitz.

"I should, uh…get back to it. Sorry again." Joey said meaningfully. Fitz said nothing more and Joey hurried out.

"He didn't mean anything by it. It was just a passing statement." Jemma said softly.

"Yeah, I know. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." Fitz sighed.

"You could've just used the intercoms to ask me for the data report, you know." Jemma smirked.

"But this way I get to see you." Fitz said shyly. The two exchanged a sweet smile.

"I'm gonna go over this again. I'll see ya later." Fitz said, heading out.

"Leo, wait." Jemma said as Fitz turned back to face her.

"Yeah?"

"Can you meet me later? Whenever you're free?" Jemma asked.

"…M-Meet you?" Fitz wondered.

"…Yeah. There's something I want to show you." Jemma clarified.

"Uh…yeah. Okay. Where?"

"My room. Just let me know when you're free and I can meet you there."

"Oh, okay." Fitz smiled as he headed out. Jemma watched him go and an excited grin filled her face.

…

Coulson sat at his desk frustratingly staring at the holographic screen in front of him, on it displaying an image of Rage and some of Joey's injuries from the weeks previously. May and Daisy next to him, examining the images just as intently.

"How is Joey doing now?" May asked.

"A lot better. Lincoln's expertise came in handy in terms of injuries sustained from an electrical attack. Rage's power worked in exactly the same way his do." Daisy explained.

"More than just a pretty face." May commented.

"And he has a VERY pretty face." Daisy blushed.

"With Ward on the run and no agents tracking him, we don't have any further leads on Maya or Rage. I honestly don't know where to go from here; we're running out of options much quicker than I'd like." Coulson said.

"We can't keep sitting around waiting for something to show itself." May said.

"Sir, I'd take a look at the news if I were you." Hunter's voice crackled over the intercom. Coulson switched on a nearby television and the three observed.

 _"…which brings us back to our top story today, as we were sent in this anonymous video…"_

The screen showed a hooded figure in a dark room; no features were distinguishable.

 _"This world is full of monsters, but what it takes to make something a monster is subjective. There is only one exception to this. The creature that attacked a school, a theatre, a funfair…everyone knows that monster has killed and injured too many. And I will stop it. I challenge this monster to a battle to the death, and I will reign victorious as I trample over its corpse. I will avenge the dead this monster slaughtered, even if it kills me. And it just might."_

"Someone new has it out for Rage. Wonderful." May sighed.

"Who is this guy?" Coulson asked.

"I got it up on here. According to reports, this guy sent the same video message to every major news outlet this morning, calling himself The Martyr. Good old Robin Hood here claims to have put a price on Rage's head and will pay anyone who helps him successfully kill 'the monster', even has the weaponry to do so. No other clues to their identity." Daisy explained, reading an article from the tablet in her hand.

"We can't keep sitting around waiting for something to show itself, you say?" Coulson smirked, turning to May, who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

…

"I have a plan." Lance stated as he walked into Coulson's office, with Bobbi not too far behind.

"Enlighten me." Coulson prompted.

"Me and Bob go undercover; contact this freak, say we wanna help him out, give him a good old sob story to get him on side, make a scene for Rage to find us then end it's reign of terror." Lance explained.

"That's not a plan, that's a suicide mission." May said.

"Got any better ideas?" Lance questioned.

"Literally anything else." Daisy remarked.

"Look, our old HQ is only our old HQ because of me; I let Rage get inside my head and compromised everything. This all escalated because of me." Lance said.

"It wasn't your fault." Daisy said.

"Maybe so, but there's still that level of responsibility. I need another shot at this, sir. I need to make peace with this." Lance pleaded. Coulson stayed silent for a moment before turning to Bobbi.

"And you?"

"I'll make sure he doesn't kill himself." Bobbi said.

"…Okay. Get your stuff ready then contact him." Coulson nodded. Lance and Bobbi nodded and rushed out of the room.

"What the hell are you thinking?" May asked.

"I'm giving him the shot he needs. We've all had our fair chance to stop Rage." Coulson said.

"Have we?" May questioned.

"I trust Hunter and Bobbi. Everyone should. Let them have their shot." Coulson ordered.

"Let's hope it's not their parting shot." Daisy sighed as she walked out.

…

Fitz rolled up to Jemma's room and gently knocked against the door.

"Jemma?" He asked. Soon enough, the door slid open and Jemma greeted him with a smile.

"Hi. Come in." Jemma said and Fitz obeyed. As he got further into the room, he was shocked to see Mack sat at Jemma's desk.

"What's up, Turbo?"

"…Okay, what's going on?" Fitz asked as Jemma walked over to Mack.

"Right, you noticed that Mack and I have been meeting a lot lately." Jemma began.

"And getting the wrong idea about it, so I've heard." Mack teased.

"Shut up." Fitz sighed.

"We've been working on a project together over the past few months. Since it was a surprise for you, I went to the next best engineer for help." Jemma explained.

"And I tried not to be insulted by that comment." Mack chirped in.

"…What surprise?" Fitz asked.

"This is based on plenty of speculation, Fitz, remember that. But we think we've created something…well, something incredible." Mack said.

"Mack's been working on some blueprints and actually putting the thing together while I researched and tested the science behind it. We'd created a good structure to the device a long time ago but didn't have a lot of faith that it would actually serve its purpose." Jemma explained.

"But now you do?" Fitz asked.

"Basically, yeah." Mack nodded.

"Since when?" Fitz wondered.

"Since Joey was injured and paralysed for a few days before Lincoln helped us restore his wounds. Rage had stopped the electrical pulses near Joey's spinal cord from flowing; Lincoln and his powers helped reactivate them, then the physiotherapy and drug treatment meant he fully recovered. Well, once his scarring and bruises heal." Jemma explained.

"And what does this have to do with your little project? You were working on it long before Joey was hurt." Fitz commented.

"Yes, but the data I recorded from his recovery helped us to realise what we needed to do to make our device work." Jemma said.

"Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology hybridised with electrical stimulants. Electrical nanites enclosed in a tiny space on a constant loop, directly attached to the spinal cord. Therefore, the loop continually fires electrical impulses across the spinal cord while the nanotechnology repairs the damage it inflicted in the first place." Mack added, picking up a tiny box and handing it to Fitz. He opened it and inside saw a miniscule metal square.

"How did you fit the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on something so small?" Fitz asked.

"Really? That's your first question?" Mack chuckled.

"…So what you're saying is…?" Fitz began, his eyes lighting up.

"…in theory, we should attach this to your spinal cord; while the nanotech works on repairing the damage to it, the nanotech hybridised with electrical stimulants fire impulses across it and enable -"

"- It could make me walk again." Fitz said, welling up as he looked towards a smiling Jemma and Mack.

"We bloody hope so." Mack said.

"But, but I researched this kind of thing; the technology doesn't exist." Fitz said.

"Now it does. We developed it. Obviously it wasn't just us two; we had help from experts all over the world and some agents here on The Bus. We also had to get Coulson's permission to use our time and resources on it, but…we have high hopes it will work. We can't guarantee it, but it just might do it. It's very complex technology but I can fill you in with much greater detail another time." Jemma smiled as Fitz continued observing the tiny device.

"…This is incredible. This must've taken so much time and patience; you did all this for me?" Fitz asked.

"Of course we did." Jemma and Mack said together.

"…I don't know what to say." Fitz whispered, a tear of joy rolling down his cheek.

"You don't have to say anything." Jemma smiled, taking Fitz's hand.

"We need a few weeks to prepare your body, of course; firing electrical impulses through you, even though they won't have any affect without the device implanted, but it'll make the actual procedure less painful in the long run. Lincoln's agreed to help us out. That is, if you want to give this a go. It could be dangerous." Mack explained.

"Dangerous is my middle name. Actually, it's not, it's -"

"-Is that a yes?" Jemma asked excitedly.

"…Let's give it a go." Fitz grinned. Jemma hugged him tight.

"Thank you." Fitz smiled.

"Don't thank us yet. This might still turn you into a Cyberman." Mack smiled. Fitz and Jemma looked at him in amazement.

"Did…did you just make a Doctor Who reference?"

"Yep."

"On purpose?"

"I watch things!"

…

The team were gathered in the briefing room.

"Bobbi and Hunter are in position?" Lincoln asked.

"Yep. They contacted The Martyr an hour ago and he replied almost instantly with a location. He's hiding out locally; makes sense. If he's after Rage's head he's probably linked directly to it somehow." Coulson explained.

"Should I be feeling as nervous as I am?" Joey wondered.

"Probably." Fitz sighed.

"This was a risky call, Coulson. We don't even know that The Martyr actually has the means to stop Rage for good." Mack commented.

"I'm done playing games. The sooner we end this the better." Coulson stated.

…

Bobbi and Hunter were pressed against the wall as The Martyr felt their bodies for wires, phones and weapons. Luckily, the two had gone in dark; it was arranged that they would call Coulson's personal number when they needed extracting.

"Give me your phones. Just in case." The Martyr said. His voice wasn't as deep as it sounded in the video. Bobbi and Lance obeyed and The Martyr put their phones in his back pockets.

They had met under a dirty bridge with a brown river running alongside where they stood. The Martyr had a cheap looking van with crate after crate of gun, grenade and blade stored in the back.

"What were your names again?" The Martyr asked as he inspected his weapons.

"Marcy." Bobbi said.

"Jason." Hunter said.

"Yes they were. Good." The Martyr chuckled. Under his hood he was wearing a black balaclava so his face couldn't be seen and his voice was slightly muffled. The rest of him was dressed in padded black armour.

"Where did you get all of this?" Bobbi asked, looking at the weapons.

"Funny how much you can accomplish when you hack into the FBI and threaten the families of operatives until they arrange a delivery for you." The Martyr explained.

"You hacked the FBI?" Lance asked.

"Easy when you know how." The Martyr replied.

"I figured you must have some computer skill, what with sending out your video and all." Bobbi commented.

"I was gonna sit back and enjoy life until the monster came." The Martyr hissed.

"Why are you after it?" Lance asked.

"Why are you?" The Martyr returned.

"…Our daughter was at the school it attacked. Broke her leg." Bobbi lied.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"We're done with freaks controlling our planet." Lance said and The Martyr nodded approvingly, looking at his watch.

"And…any time…now." He whispered.

Suddenly, there was the loud bang of an explosion.

"What the hell?" Lance asked.

"That's the signal for the monster. Don't worry; it was an abandoned building I placed the bomb in. I'm not evil, I'm determined." The Martyr explained.

"The monster could be anywhere; what if it didn't hear it?" Bobbi asked.

"The explosion wasn't the signal." The Martyr said, satisfied.

Even through his balaclava, Bobbi could tell he was grinning widely.

…

"Look." Lincoln said, pointing at the TV screen showing the news a few minutes later. Helicopter footage showed images of a small explosion locally, but the explosion had lit a trial of fuel that was now burning brightly on the side of the partially destroyed building.

Written in flames was the word 'MONSTER'.

"What have we thrown them into?" Jemma worried.

"Let's hope that Maya's watching the news right now. And that Rage answers the call." Coulson said.

…

Local people were running and screaming as The Martyr's van pulled up beside the burning building. The Martyr jumped out along with Bobbi and Lance, who now had balaclava's on themselves. Opening the back of the van, The Martyr handed Bobbi and Lance several guns and grenades each. They were an impressive standard of quality that could easily rival S.H.I.E.L.D. gunfire.

"Good old FBI." Lance commented as he shared a concerned glance with Bobbi.

"Why aren't any authorities here yet?" Bobbi asked.

"They ain't coming until they're sure the monster ain't." The Martyr said, clocking his large rifle and keeping an eye in the sky.

Everything fell silent after a loud roar echoed through every building nearby. Bobbi could hardly breath as she looked up and saw the silhouette of Rage on the roof of the building opposite, screaming as Rage leaped across the street and stood in front of them all, screaming again.

"Even uglier in person." The Martyr said, taking a step towards Rage.

As Bobbi and Lance looked at the monstrous being, they noticed small changes. It's eyes were no longer jet black but more of a light grey, and there was some slight cracking in its navy blue skin.

"You're dead, you son of a bitch!" The Martyr exclaimed, throwing a grenade at Rage, who batted it away into a nearby building. It exploded, sending rubble flying everywhere and more people running into the distance, screaming in terror.

"This is where your story ends." The Martyr seethed, getting ready to throw a handful of grenades. Rage roared and jumped towards The Martyr, the shockwave of it landing sending them all crashing to the floor.

Then, Rage opened its mouth and revealed its yellowed, razor sharp teeth, and with another roar flames came flying out of its mouth towards Bobbi and Lance, who rushed behind the van to cover.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Lance exclaimed.

"Another new ability?" Bobbi wondered.

The Martyr stood back up and shot his rifle at Rage. To Bobbi and Lance's surprise, the bullet pierced its skin and Rage wailed in pain before swatting The Martyr with its claw and tearing the ground to pieces, throwing it in Bobbi and Lance's direction as it screamed.

Lance rolled out from the van and took a few shots at Rage; Rage screamed in pain again, stumbling back as it fired a bolt of electricity at him. Bobbi pushed him out of the way as The Martyr readied himself and fired once more as Rage charged towards him. Before he could take another shot, Rage grabbed him and left him dangling upside down in its hand.

"You know nothing of any human. That will be your downfall." The Martyr hissed, spitting at Rage. Rage roared again and threw The Martyr at the wall; he crashed against it with a crack and fell motionless to the ground.

"NO!" Lance shouted, firing at Rage again. Rage roared, kicking the van towards Bobbi and Lance at such a pace that they couldn't escape it; it knocked them back to the floor and everything went black.

…

When they woke up, Rage was gone.

Lance helped Bobbi to her feet, having fractured her arm, before the two rushed over to The Martyr, still in the same spot where Rage threw him against the wall.

Lance leaned down next to him; The Martyr placed his weakening hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Don't…stop…fighting."

The Martyr's arm fell to the floor and he would never move again. Lance sighed as he delicately pulled The Martyr's balaclava off of his head. The sight he saw filled his eyes with tears; beneath the blood and sweat was the face of a young boy, no older than eighteen.

"He's just a kid." Lance choked. Bobbi closed her eyes and shed a tear.

"The authorities will be here soon. We need to disappear." Bobbi said, keeping her head clear. Lance slowly nodded and took their phones out of The Martyr's back pocket – one was shattered into pieces but the other still worked. In silence, Lance dialled the number and held the phone to his ear.

"…Coulson, I think you know where to pick us up."

Lance looked upwards; the flaming writing had long since gone out.

…

Lance sat next to Bobbi, holding her hand as she lay on a bed in the medical bay.

"You need rest, but you'll be fine. That goes for both of you." Jemma smiled sadly.

"Thanks, Jemma." Lance said as Jemma walked off. Coulson approached them both.

"I'm sorry for letting you go through that."

"It's the job, sir." Bobbi said.

"Daisy hacked into the police reports. The Martyr's real name was Andy Bell. Seventeen. In juvenile detention for a few years for hacking bank accounts. We did some digging; his younger sister, Zara, was killed when Rage attacked the theatre." Coulson explained.

"Something was off with Rage." Bobbi explained.

"What do you mean?" Coulson asked.

"It had another new ability, but it wasn't bulletproof this time. Almost like it was compensating; it gains new abilities but older ones get weaker." Bobbi clarified.

"…I'll get Fitzsimmons to look into it."

Lance sighed and put his head in his hands. Bobbi looked at Coulson in a way that told him to leave them both alone. Coulson nodded and walked off.

"Don't do it." Bobbi said.

"Do what?" Lance asked.

"Blame yourself. Again. I know you are."

"It's the only thing I'm really good at." Lance said.

"His mission is what killed him."

"He lost someone he loved. If I lost you I'd act as irrationally as he did." Lance sighed.

"So would I. Still doesn't mean it's our fault. We just need to complete the mission he set, but go about things in a better way than he did." Bobbi said.

"He was just a kid, he didn't know any better."

"Hunter, we have to lose some fights otherwise winning wouldn't mean anything." Bobbi said.

"Doesn't mean it should suck this bad to lose." Hunter grumbled.

"We WILL beat it. You know that."

"I don't, actually. Not anymore."

Bobbi took Lance's hand and kissed it gently.

"Thanks, by the way. For saving me from the worst electric shock of all time." Lance smiled.

"You're very welcome." Bobbi smirked.

"What would I do without you, eh?"

"You'd be long dead, that's for sure. You're lucky I'm always gonna be around to protect you." Bobbi smiled.

"One day I'll be the one protecting you, I promise." Lance said.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Now get some rest." Lance ordered, softly kissing Bobbi and leaving her to sleep. Even when his head was all over the place, she could bring him back down to Earth.

As Lance walked out of the medical bay, Coulson was waiting for him.

"I'm ready to kill this bastard now." Lance stated, walking on. Coulson watched him go and nodded.

"Me too."


	16. The Days To Come

**16: THE DAYS TO COME**

"Phil…Phil…PHIL!"

Coulson snapped back to reality as he sat at his desk, looking up and seeing May staring down at him, her arms folded.

"Sorry."

"What's wrong with you? You were miles way." May frowned.

"I've just…I've had a lot of my mind lately." Coulson said.

"We all have. You look exhausted." May commented.

"That's what happens when you don't sleep."

"Phil, now's not the time for joking around." May said sternly.

"These are dark days, May. Now's the perfect time for joking around." Coulson said.

"We have no leads and you're just sitting around staring into space." May stated.

"I want this over with as much as anyone, but we have nothing to go on. Nothing. What else can I do?" Coulson asked.

"Get up and find something. When did the best course of action become sitting and waiting? That's not what S.H.I.E.L.D. is about." May argued.

"Well maybe _my_ S.H.I.E.L.D. is!" Coulson exclaimed, standing up from his chair.

"…What happened to you? Ever since this all started you've been taking stupid risks, putting everyone in danger -"

"-You have a problem with S.H.I.E.L.D., Melinda?" Coulson asked argumentatively.

"With S.H.I.E.L.D.? No. With the Director? Let's not get into it." May retaliated, storming out. Coulson watched her go with a sigh.

…

Fitz lay on a bed in the medical bay as Jemma and Lincoln stood over him.

"Are you sure you don't want any more anaesthetic?" Jemma asked, concerned.

"I've had plenty, Jemma. It was the perfect amount last time, it will be again." Fitz said reassuringly.

"Okay, just like last time. A few shocks to continue your body's adjustment to the effects Jemma and Mack's implant will hopefully have." Lincoln said and Fitz nodded.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Lance asked as he appeared next to the group.

"What does it look like?" Lincoln asked.

"A cheap 'Frankenstein' remake." Lance smirked.

"We're stimulating Fitz." Jemma answered.

"Blimey, sounds like a different kind of cheap movie now."

"I thought you were here to be with Bobbi?" Fitz wondered.

"She's sleeping. Didn't want to bother her." Lance said.

"So you thought you'd bother us instead?" Jemma questioned.

"It's okay, Jemma." Fitz said.

"I'm sorry; I just don't want any unnecessary disturbances to the treatment." Jemma said.

"How is Bobbi, anyhow?" Lincoln asked.

"Getting better, thanks." Lance smiled.

"We need to do this before the medication wears off." Jemma noted and Lincoln nodded, holding his hand over Fitz's chest.

"Okay. Ready?" Lincoln asked. Fitz nodded.

Carefully, Lincoln steadied his hand before a tiny bolt left his fingertip and entered Fitz's body, causing him to jolt slightly.

"You okay?" Jemma asked Fitz. He gave her a cheeky grin, making her laugh.

"Okay, just a few more." Lincoln said, repeating the process an additional four times.

"IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!" Lance chuckled.

"Hunter?" Jemma asked.

"Yeah?"

"Leave before I throw my shoe at you."

"Understandable."

As Lance walked off, Lincoln helped Fitz sit up.

"That should do for now; don't want to overdo it. We'll repeat it in a few hours." Lincoln added.

"No problem. Thanks." Fitz smiled as Jemma helped him back into his wheelchair.

"Anytime. Well, anytime at regular intervals." Lincoln smirked as he headed out.

"All okay?" Jemma asked.

"Yeah, all good." Fitz smiled.

"The fact that your body is coping so well to the stimulation is a positive sign. You have a great body." Jemma smiled. Fitz's eyes widened and so did Jemma's.

"I didn't mean, I was just, I-"

"-Yeah, of course. I know." Fitz nodded.

Silence.

"…Well, I better get back to work." Fitz said eventually.

"Of course. Good day, Dr Fitz." Jemma smiled.

"Good day, Dr Simmons."

Fitz began to roll out of the room, then stopped and turned back. His heart started pounding and his palms quickly got clammy.

"…Jemma?"

She turned and smiled at him, "Yes?"

"I, um…I was thinking that…that we, uh…doesn't matter." Fitz sighed.

"Oh, are you sure?"

"Yeah, it can wait. I'll leave you to it." Fitz smiled as he exited the room, leaving Jemma confused.

…

"Andrew."

Andrew looked up from his desk and smiled at May standing before him.

"Melinda, hi."

"You never told me you were back on board." May said.

"Well, you only just picked me up. Did you need something?" Andrew asked.

"I wouldn't mind if you took a walk so I could take your notes on Coulson." May said sternly. Andrew sighed.

"Melinda, we've been over this time and time again."

"He's losing it, Andrew."

"You need to support him."

"He's getting worse. This case is getting to him. Maya Anderson shattered his trust and his spirit and now he's making too many close calls and taking stupid risks. The way he's going…the way he is…I don't know if he's fit to be Director." May admitted.

"Those are some harsh words." Andrew noted.

"They're words of concern and care. Concern for the team and for Phil. Believe me, I don't like thinking of him like this." May said.

"I think you and Phil need to be the ones having this talk." Andrew suggested.

"It's not just me thinking it. Quite a few of the team are. Mack's very much on my side; Lance was until Coulson buttered him up and let him take on The Martyr case, which ended in disaster." May explained.

"I think you're making this into a bigger thing than it is. Don't start a civil war, Melinda." Andrew warned.

"I'm not. It's not war or mutiny, its friendship. The threat Rage poses isn't going to just fade away. Think about it. Think about the days to come. There are going to be dark days ahead of all of us; Coulson's already broken and another setback will shatter him completely." May said passionately. Andrew stared at her and smiled.

"What?" May asked.

"This passion you have. It's why I fell in love with you."

"…This isn't about us, Andrew."

"In a way I think it is. You shouldn't be going to the team or to me over this, you need to talk to Phil. Both of you need to stop shutting each other out." Andrew observed.

"Why's that?"

"Because if we hadn't have done the same, we'd still be married."

Andrew's words silenced May.

"If you're so worried about how cracked and fragile S.H.I.E.L.D. is, why are you so determined to take a cause of action that will destroy it completely?" Andrew asked.

May said nothing more.

…

Lincoln smiled as he walked into the training room and saw Daisy skilfully cracking sheet after sheet of glass with her powers.

"I'm glad you've got your powers so under control. Else I'd be strongly against you training like that." Lincoln smirked, causing Daisy to turn around and smile at him.

"I could the same about you shooting bolts of electricity into my friend's spinal cord." Daisy teased.

"Fitz is taking the stimulation really well. All signs are positive so far." Lincoln explained.

"Good." Daisy nodded happily before returning to her training, cracking another sheet of glass in the opposite end of the room with the swoop of her hand.

"I've never seen you do this before." Lincoln noted.

"I've been trying to think of news ways I can use my powers; new skills and new moves that might be able to inflict some serious damage on Rage." Daisy explained.

"Me too. I've been practicing trying to compress a large amount of electrical energy into small objects to make them explode. That way I could make a grenade out of anything. Eventually I could scale it up so maybe I could just make Rage explode and save the day." Lincoln said.

"That's a really cool idea." Daisy nodded.

"It would be until we found out Rage has powers similar to mine and conducts electricity as part of its DNA structure, meaning it probably wouldn't have any effect on it." Lincoln sighed.

"Well, you can still stick to the grenade idea. In the days to come we'll need something amazing if we wanna stop Rage for good. I should go talk to Coulson about setting up a more suitable area for more intense experimentation." Daisy said.

"I'd give it a while; May and Mack are on their way to speak to him." Lincoln explained.

"How come?"

"They're worried about his ability to be Director." Lincoln revealed.

"…He's in a bad place, but he'll get over it. What do you think?" Daisy asked.

"I…I have my doubts. Lots of us do. As long as his actions don't endanger you or take you from me, I'm good." Lincoln smiled, moving a strand of Daisy's hair out of her eye and kissing her passionately.

"…Maybe teamwork is the way to do it. A combination of powers?" Daisy suggested as they broke apart.

"What?"

"Maybe we can find a way to use our powers together, with Joey too? Or just me and you; if we could make our powers interact with each other somehow?" Daisy speculated.

"You mean like a…static…quake?" Lincoln suggested.

"Why not?"

"…I guess we could experiment with the idea. Though, right now…I have a very different idea of how I'd like to interact with you." Lincoln whispered suggestively, pulling Daisy close and kissing her neck.

"Can't argue with that." Daisy smiled, pulling Lincoln's shirt off over his head and kissing him as he backed up against the wall with a seductive smile.

…

Fitz rolled into the lab and was surprised to see Jemma sat at a desk working hard.

"I thought you were stationed in the med bay this week?" Fitz asked.

"I am, but I've got some compounds to mix and there's no better place to do that than here." Jemma smiled.

"I see." Fitz said, moving over to some blueprints.

"Is everything alright? You seemed a little odd earlier, like you were gonna ask me something." Jemma wondered. A nervousness entered Fitz once again.

"Oh, yeah, I…I was just being stupid. You know how I can be." Fitz chuckled.

"That's all it is?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm fine."

"Okay." Jemma nodded, returning to her work. Fitz sighed, briefly putting his head in his hands and facing her.

"Basically, I was gonna ask if…well, I…look, ever since my injury – hell, probably even before then – I felt like things might have been changing with me. And with you. With us." Fitz mumbled. Jemma sat up in her seat, nervously looking at him.

"Oh." She whispered.

"I mean, maybe it's just me but I've been sensing a -"

"-shift? In our dynamic?" Jemma finished and Fitz nodded.

"Yeah."

"…It's not just you." Jemma said with a nervous smile.

"Oh. Right."

"Seeing Rage hurt you…both times…it put things in perspective and made me…re-evaluate aspects of my life." Jemma explained.

"Yeah…me too." Fitz stuttered with anxiety.

Both were at a loss for words.

"…Sorry, I'm not good at this kind of thing." Fitz chuckled in embarrassment.

"…Well, I uh…maybe we could try -"

"-How about…I promise you something?" Fitz suggested.

"Oh, um…okay." Jemma said, confused.

"I don't know what the days to come hold for me or us but…I want to be positive about things, especially because your my best friend in the world and I never want that to change. Maybe I can just promise you…that if the implant works…I'll take you out for dinner. Somewhere…nice." Fitz said nervously, unable to look Jemma in the eye.

"You mean, l-like a, um…"

"Like a date. Yeah." Fitz confirmed.

Jemma smiled slightly.

"I mean, you know, if that's something you'd like to…do. With me." Fitz added nervously.

"…I really would." Jemma blushed. Fitz looked her in the eye for the first time in minutes.

"Really?" He asked hopefully.

"Really." She grinned.

"…Well, uh…good. Okay." Fitz nodded.

"But on one condition." Jemma said.

"Name it." Fitz said.

"If the implant works, you ask me out to dinner. If the implant doesn't work…" Jemma began.

"…Yeah?"

"…you ask me out to dinner anyway." Jemma smiled. Fitz's face lit up.

"I'd be very, very okay with that arrangement." Fitz smiled.

"Me too." Jemma blushed.

…

Coulson stared at May and Mack in turn, deep in thought.

"Andrew helped me see that I should come directly to you with our concerns." May said.

"It's nothing but a sign of respect, Coulson." Mack added.

"…I understand." Coulson nodded.

"…You're not angry?" Mack asked.

"At you? No. At myself? Of course. Bobbi's in the medical bay because of me. Joey's still recovering from severe injuries because of me. Fitz is in a wheelchair because of me. HQ is destroyed because I underestimated Maya Anderson and Rage. All of this is on me; how could anyone not doubt my ability? Honestly, I should be surprised I didn't have a conversation like this sooner." Coulson explained.

"Phil -"

"-This is my responsibility. I accept that. I won't let anyone else get hurt in this battle. Which is why I need you to with me." Coulson said.

"Meaning?" May asked.

"From now on, until Rage is stopped, I'm making it a rule that I don't make a decision without consulting both of you." Coulson decreed.

"Seriously?" Mack questioned.

"Seriously. To make sure I don't lose my way again. I've let too many good people get hurt. That stops with you two. I'm sorry I ever put you in a position where you have to doubt my leadership. Dismissed." Coulson said. Mack nodded and gave a tiny smile.

"Very good, sir." He said and headed out.

"May, I know how hard this must have been for you to admit. I appreciate it. And I'm sorry. Thank you." Coulson said meaningfully, holding out his hand for May to shake.

After a moment, May pushed Coulson's hand away and hugged him.

"Can't remember the last time this happened." Coulson commented.

"And if you tell anyone, I'll make sure you never will."


	17. The Trinket

**17: THE TRINKET**

May looked out into the darkness of the night surrounding her as she piloted The Bus while the rest of the jet enjoyed the calmness of sleep. Before she joined Coulson's team she'd gotten used to shutting everyone out so she found it quite therapeutic to have time alone.

While it lasted, at least.

"May I take a seat, Melinda?" Andrew asked as he peered his head into the cockpit.

"As long as you promise to keep your psychological analysis of people outside the door." May smirked.

"That seems fair." Andrew smiled, sitting in the empty chair next to her.

"It still bewilders me that you know what all these buttons do." Andrew commented.

"It's easy when you put the time in." May said.

"Not everyone has the time."

"No one ever does."

"Look who's getting analytical now." Andrew teased. May shook her head as she held back a smile.

"Coulson told me you're staying on board for a while longer." May recalled.

"With the tension between you all as high as it is, I felt I might as well stick around instead of having two days at home then inevitably getting summoned back to sort out an argument." Andrew said.

"Things are fine now." May stated.

"Until Rage bears it's literal and metaphorical ugly head again."

"…Once we think of a way of stopping it, at least _catching_ it, things will cool down."

"…Why is it that you all refer to Rage and Maya Anderson as two different beings?" Andrew asked.

"Because they are. Maya cannot control Rage's actions from what we've gathered so far." May explained.

"Interesting." Andrew nodded.

"…I will probably regret asking this, but why is it interesting?"

"Well, you're all desperate to catch Rage and don't seem to understand that catching Rage and catching Maya Anderson is the same thing. Go after Maya, not Rage; appeal to the humanity. Whether they like it or not, everyone has some humanity in them. Why else would Inhumans let the word 'human' be in their name?" Andrew suggested.

"Interesting." May smirked.

"What?"

"For once, I'm glad you went all analytical."

…

"Instead of focusing on drawing Rage from out of the shadows, we should draw Maya out instead." May said as she stood in the briefing room with Coulson and Mack.

"Are we incredibly stupid for not thinking of this earlier? Because I feel pretty stupid for not thinking of this earlier." Mack said.

"Instead of dwelling on our stupidity, let's just focus on the matter at hand. We need to something sentimental to Maya; something that she would desperately want to get back, even if she had to become Rage to do it." Coulson said.

"…Maybe there's something in her house?" May suggested.

"Makes sense; she had to go on the run when you exposed her, she can't have been able to take everything. Or anything, really." Mack theorised.

"Daisy extracted Maya's address months ago when she downloaded files from R.E.S.C.U.E.'s database; maybe we should stop by and check it out. We've been monitoring it and there was a heavy police presence at first but it's died down. The entrances have been sealed shut but that's not a problem for us." Coulson revealed.

"So, is that a go?" May asked.

"Let's do it. Change the plane's course." Coulson said to May, who nodded and rushed off.

…

"How does it not run out of power once it's implanted?" Mack asked later that day as he and Jemma stood at a table in the lab inspecting their implant for Fitz's spinal cord.

"Oh, S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist developed the technology for sustainable, renewable energy a few years ago. All I did was use the schematics and chemicals required and put it into this, on a smaller scale of course." Jemma explained excitedly.

"Wait, there's already a way of having sustainable and renewable energy and the world doesn't know about it yet?" Mack questioned.

"We'll release the information when we develop a safe way for it to be used. This technology as it stands can be easily weaponised so we can't risk anyone knowing about it just yet." Jemma justified.

"…So, is that it? Has it passed your inspection?" Mack asked.

"I do believe it has." Jemma grinned as Daisy walked in.

"Well, I better get ready for when we land; Coulson's asked me to help him go through Maya's house. I'll see you soon. Good work, partner." Mack smiled, patting Jemma on the back as he headed out and fist bumping Daisy as he went.

"Oh, is this Fitz's implant?" Daisy asked excitedly as she rushed to Jemma's side and looked at the tiny device, delicately stored in a small plastic case.

"That's it. Some of the most advanced technology known to man compressed into something barely the size of a fingernail." Jemma said.

"That's so cool. You're amazing for doing this for Fitz." Daisy said.

"I'd do anything for Leo. I know he'd do the same if I were the one in need of it too; I just hope it works – I know he'd pretend to be fine with it but it'll kill him if it fails." Jemma said.

"Of course it'll work; you're like the smartest woman ever." Daisy smiled.

"Let's not go that far." Jemma chuckled, smiling at the implant as she stored it away in a cupboard by her desk.

"…Are you okay, Jemma?" Daisy asked.

"What? Of course I am! You're worried about me?" Jemma asked.

"No, I mean…it's the opposite of worry, really. You've been really perky these last few days. And you calling Fitz Leo not only creeps me out but makes me suspicious." Daisy said and a smile crept up Jemma's face as she blushed and looked to the floor.

"Fitz and I, we're…well, we're not, I mean…we're going to…we're going to have dinner. Soon. After his operation, good result or bad. Dinner, just the two of us. Like a…like a date." Jemma admitted happily.

"Finally! Jemma, that's great! It's about time!" Daisy squealed excitedly.

"I need to focus on the implant first, though; if I start thinking about the where and when's of it all, and whether or not he'd pull a chair out for me – if he can – and what I'm going to wear…if I think about all that I get too nervous to concentrate on my work." Jemma revealed.

"Of course you're gonna be nervous. I mean, with Lincoln and I…we've always had that kind of relationship and we haven't known each other for that long in the grand scheme of things. You and Fitz have been best friends for ten years and only now it's getting romantic. It's nerve-wracking but you must be excited?" Daisy asked.

"…I really am." Jemma smiled.

"Good!"

"It's just…I guess it's just very new, seeing him in _that_ way." Jemma said.

"About as new as a fossil. From the second I first met you two, arguing like a married couple, I saw this coming. This is honestly the best news, Jemma. I'm super happy for both of you." Daisy smiled.

"Thank you." Jemma blushed.

"Man, I only came in here to see how the implant was turning out. Even if we catch Maya this'll be the highlight of my day." Daisy grinned and Jemma laughed.

…

A few hours later, The Bus was stationed in an empty field away from the public eye. Coulson and Mack had gone through Maya's house and taken an item away – a silver pendant with a picture of her son Kaiden inside. Coulson sat at his desk examining it as Fitz rolled in.

"Transport's arrived for you sir. Why don't we just fly to wherever it is you want to go?" Fitz asked.

"It's not too far from here; that's why I had The Bus land in this location. Can't risk too many people seeing." Coulson explained.

"I don't want to seem high and mighty, but this seems cruel, sir; taking something that must be so precious to her to force her out." Fitz noted.

"I can't say I feel good about it, Fitz, but its necessary evil. She's dangerous and this might be a good way of stopping her without bloodshed. She might come in willingly." Coulson said.

"I saw the news report you had leaked." Fitz said.

"What did it say?"

"First they were saying how someone had broken into the 'infamous fugitive' Maya Anderson's home. Then they read out the speech the anonymous thief had sent it; that they'd taken the pendant in order to stop Maya 'shielding herself away' and how she should meet with them 'where at last they met'. I'm not sure it makes much sense to me." Fitz recalled.

"Good. But it'll make sense to her. Wording it like that; she'd pick up on the 'shielding' comment and know it's me. And the 'at last we met' comment is in reference to what she first said to me in person, so she'll go to that location. That very same pier. I only hope Maya was listening, turns up and doesn't go full on monster mode." Coulson said, heading out of the room. He stopped and turned back.

"Tell everyone to suit up. If this works, I'll need you all."

…

Coulson waited at the pier for an hour, and there had been no sign of Maya or Rage. If he was truly honest, Coulson had mixed feelings about the whole thing; he certainly would not have appreciated the inconvenience of Rage turning up and tearing him into tiny Coulson chunks.

It was getting late, and as the darkness started to set in any visitors to the pier had departed; Coulson's credentials were all that kept him able to remain where he was.

"I don't think she's coming." Lance's voice crackled over coms.

"You may be right." Coulson sighed, looking out to the sea view in front of him, listening to wave crash against rock; nature's beautiful melody.

"You son of a bitch."

Coulson turned and saw the familiar face stood next to him.

"Maya?"

Even in the low light, Coulson could see Maya Anderson was a shell of the woman she once was. She had a long piece of fabric covering most of her face, but her skin was dry and cracking; her eyes more bloodshot than anyone Coulson had ever seen.

"How did you get past the security?" Coulson asked.

"Your team knows best my ability to get inside people's heads." Maya groaned. She took a step forward and leaned against the metal bar on the pier's edge, wincing as she bent forwards in pain.

"You're not well." Coulson sighed.

"I haven't been well since my husband and son were taken from me. A fact you have today become determined to flaunt in my face." Maya cursed.

"You've been killing people and destroying cities. We needed to stop you. My agents said Rage seemed weaker, I just never considered -"

"-Evolution is a bitch." Maya said.

"We can help you." Coulson pleaded.

"I don't want your help. Just give me the pendant you bastard. Or I'll do something I'll regret." Maya threatened.

"Listen to me, I -"

"GIVE IT TO ME." Maya screamed, knocking Coulson to the floor. Instinctively, Coulson pulled out his icer and took a shot; while it had no effect on Rage in the past, now it caused Maya to stumble a little and leave her dazed.

"What's happening to you?" Coulson asked, his concern growing by the second.

"You…you shot me." Maya seethed, her eyes glossing over into a pigment of grey as he skin started to turn a navy blue.

Coulson was left with no other option.

"NOW!" Coulson shouted.

Maya wailed as she was shot with blast after blast from an icer in all different directions, pausing her transformation. As her vision blurred, she made out several figures emerging from shaded parts of the pier; Mack, Lance, Bobbi, Daisy, Lincoln, Joey, Jemma. S.H.I.E.L.D.

With one final scream, she collapsed to the floor, unconscious. A Quinjet hovered overhead with May at the controls. Coulson leant down next to Maya.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, placing the pendant in her hand.

Coulson looked up to the Quinjet and nodded. The bottom of the vehicle opened and a large cube dropped from it, the base sliding open as it landed on top of Maya, forming a cell around her. Everyone observed as Maya lay still in the centre of the cell as it hovered back up into the base of the Quinjet. All eyes landed on Coulson.

"Good work everyone." Coulson said solemnly, still staring up at the jet.

…

Coulson and Andrew watched from outside the interrogation room as Maya sat chained to the chair.

"What if she transforms?" Andrew asked.

"She's had liquid icer circulated through her bloodstream for the past few hours. That'll keep her at bay until her abilities adapt to it and recover from its effect. After that, I just hope she doesn't get too pissed off." Coulson said.

"And you really think she's ready for an interrogation already?" Andrew wondered.

"I'm done wasting time. You'll stay out here and perform a psych eval?" Coulson asked and Andrew nodded.

"She looks half dead." Andrew noted.

"Bobbi and Lance told me when they last encountered Rage that something seemed different; it had new abilities but it wasn't bulletproof like before. Aspects of Rage are getting weaker with time, and it's affecting Maya too." Coulson explained.

"I take it Fitzsimmons are analysing the new blood samples you took?" Andrew asked.

"They've already started running all the tests they can." Coulson confirmed.

"Go easy on her, okay?"

"She's killed dozens of people, Andrew."

"She didn't ask to be turned, Phil."

Coulson said nothing more as he opened the door and walked inside. Andrew took a deep breath as he watched through the one-way glass.

Maya slowly lifted her head as Coulson walked into the room. He walked over to the table and took a seat opposite her.

"Let's start at the beginning, shall we?"


	18. Give Your Heart A Break

**18: GIVE YOUR HEART A BREAK**

"The beginning? Well, I was born on February 19th -"

"Very cute." Coulson interrupted, wiping the smirk from Maya's face.

A short silence followed as Coulson and Maya sat quietly at the desk in the interrogation room, the bright ceiling lights already making them both start to sweat. In the intense lighting, Coulson saw just how ill Maya looked; her cracked skin and bloodshot eyes were only intensified by straw-like hair and a yellowing complexion.

"…Fancy a glass of water?" Coulson asked, gesturing towards the jug next to him.

"Depends what drugs you've slipped in it to keep me at bay." Maya said.

"What do you take me for? We did all that while you were unconscious. Sorry for that, by the way, but needs must." Coulson said.

"…Well in that case, how can I resist?" Maya sighed. Coulson poured a glass and pushed it closer to her.

"I'm kinda tied up right now." Maya groaned, gesturing towards the cuffs on her hands. Coulson smiled, pulling a straw out of his pocket and placing it in the glass with a satisfied look. Maya glared at him for a moment before taking a sip.

"I'm only here to talk. Not an interrogation, a chat." Coulson said.

"Really, is that why there's clearly someone else watching on the other side of that one-way glass? Even for a top secret organisation, that's such an obvious cliché." Maya teased.

"Dr Garner is observing you with your best interests at heart. You don't look so good, Maya." Coulson observed.

"Wow, its observations like that one that truly show why you're the Director." Maya smirked.

"Maya, I just want to talk. You and me, finally talking this out. 'Open your heart to me, baby'." Coulson smiled.

"Never liked Madonna." Maya groaned.

"You've been hunting people and we've bene hunting you. I'm tired of this game and you must be too. I just want to understand everything, Maya, that's all." Coulson pleaded.

"You're talking to me like I'm a child, or a patient in an asylum." Maya spat.

"I'm talking to you like the strong, powerful woman I first met at that pier months ago. Before I knew what you could transform into. I want to talk to that woman, a woman I respected. I know what happened to your family and how that changed you but I don't understand those changes." Coulson said passionately. Maya stared at him for a moment.

"…What's your mother's name, Phil?" Maya asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"Your mother, what's her name?"

"…Agatha."

"And you two are close?"

"She died a long time ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Maya said and nodded to herself.

"Okay, I'll talk." She added, sitting back in her seat.

"…What was all that for?" Coulson asked.

"I was listening to your pulse; making sure you were telling the truth just then. You did. I trust you. Let's talk." Maya smiled slightly.

Coulson shuffled his chair closer into the table.

"Very good then. The beginning." Coulson said.

"You mean the beginning of Rage?" Maya asked.

"It's up to you; the beginnings of some stories are subjective." Coulson said, remembering something Andrew told him years ago.

Maya was silent for a long time as she gathered her thoughts. Coulson saw tears in her eyes and hurt in her face; for the first time since she was captured, the hurt wasn't coming from anything physical.

"…Have you ever been married Coulson? Had kids?" Maya asked.

"No, neither."

"Lucky you. I wish I hadn't either." Maya choked.

"…You…?"

"I know how horrible it sounds. How it must make me seem like a terrible mother, but…never having a husband and never raising a beautiful child is nothing compared to seeing them both die." Maya cried, breaking down slightly. Coulson sat there, giving her all the time she needed to gather herself.

"I imagine you know most of it. I wrote articles and I protested against The Young Gods, the street terrorists haunting my area. In retaliation they shot my husband, Glenn, and kidnapped my boy, Kaiden. Can you picture it, Phil? Opening my front door and seeing the love of my life lying in a pool of blood, his face frozen in a terrified grimace? They don't think he'd even been dead an hour. If I hadn't have worked overtime I'd have gotten home to be with him in his last moments; maybe even get an ambulance to him in time." Maya continued through her agony.

"I couldn't begin to imagine it." Coulson sighed.

"Even then it wasn't over; hours agonising and worrying after I realised Kaiden wasn't home. As soon as the policeman came to my door that evening I lost it; I remember the sound my knees made as they hit the floor. I remember not being able to hear what the guy was saying because I was crying so loud. If I hadn't have arranged protests outside of my house they would never have found out where…y-you know where they found my baby, Phil? By the side of the road, just tossed out; they don't think the car even stopped to put him there. Lying on the side of the road. In the cold. In a black… a black b-bin bag."

Coulson dropped his head at Maya's words.

"…They didn't bother me again after that; they knew I couldn't put up a fight. But I swore on my family's graves that I'd get them. I didn't know how at the time, but I swore I would make them pay. I wanted to make a difference, Phil, I truly did. So I started thinking about how I could do it; I couldn't go back to protesting and writing after everything – I needed a new path. I thought about starting my own company, then it occurred to me to start my own organisation. I would have to raise the funds somehow, of course, but I knew I could do it one day. I wanted to tackle problems like The Young Gods and stop anything like that, stop any people that posed a threat to my home. And what was all over the news at the time? Inhuman attack after Inhuman attack. They became my starting point. An organisation that tackled Inhuman threats somehow, but you see the thing is that I understood what others didn't – so many people seem to forget that there must be, MUST be, Inhumans out there who mean no harm. I needed to consider them too. Then it all fell into place; if there were good Inhumans, they could also be the solution. Use their powers to tackle the bad Inhumans, fight fire with fire. All the other key ideas I had for R.E.S.C.U.E. were formed around that idea." Maya explained.

"And all this was before you went through terrigenesis?" Coulson asked. Maya nodded.

"My plans for R.E.S.C.U.E. were already in place by then, yes. After I had that golden idea, I needed to work on myself. Get past the trauma and the pain and the anger and become a new woman who could sell this organisation and get it funded. I read more, I exercised more, I started eating healthier – including buying vitamins and…fish oil. I try it for the first time, hated it and then all of a sudden my body started seizing up. I was terrified. My skin started to turn to stone and the next thing I knew I couldn't move; I could barely think. I thought I was going to stay that way forever." Maya said.

She took a sip of her water and sat up straight.

"I think it focused on what was driving me, you know, when I changed. It felt my anger and – well, my rage – and used that to create the Inhuman I became. After the rock fell away and I could move again I didn't feel any different, but then I felt itchy all over. Next thing I knew, my skin was turning blue and I became this creature, this thing; I still felt like me yet when I moved and talked it felt like someone else. It's hard to describe the feeling." Maya revealed.

"…and then you found out the identities of The Young Gods?" Coulson asked.

"…Yeah. It started off by accident. I just happened to see a woman in the street; something inside me drew myself to her. I got inside her head and read her thoughts and I realised she was one of them. I followed her all day then that night I changed, chased her into some woods until I caught up with her and killed her, just like that. It was so easy. I know it's disgusting, but it felt good to do it. To see the life leave her eyes like she saw the life leave Glenn and Kaiden's. I looked through her things and found out her name; got home and wrote down everything I remembered. That was the first file on The Young Gods I had. I snuck back into her house and all this information was screaming at me; her emails and phone; it told me all her recent and most used contacts. I used her social media to work out her daily routine and retrace her steps and tracked down the people she interacted with the most. It was when they all met up in one place that I knew I'd found them all. I followed one of them home, a guy – I can't recall his name now – and I chased him into this sort of barn house place. I killed him too. And I'm still glad I did. Once I had their faces imprinted in my memory I found them online and built up files on them too. Except the elusive Grant Ward, of course; I got all that from you." Maya explained.

"You manipulated the information out of us." Coulson said.

"Yes. I did."

"So, you'd gone through terrigenesis and tracked down The Young Gods. When did R.E.S.C.U.E. come into full fruition?" Coulson asked.

"When I jokingly asked the mailman to tidy my house while he was working hard and he actually did – without stopping – I thought something was up. When he spent the next few days mowing my lawn and taking out my trash I realised I must have some kind of psychic, posthypnotic suggestion power going on. That gave me the confidence I needed to take R.E.S.C.U.E. further. With that kind of power, why not go to the most powerful man in the world?" Maya recalled.

"And that's how The President got involved and endorsed you."

"Amazing how a simple power can make guards personally escort you to the President himself. One chat with him and he co-founded and funded the whole organisation, enlisting some of his best men to work for me and R.E.S.C.U.E. We spent a few months creating a brand, recruiting and building offices on the sly, but we did it. When a database was created I transferred the files I had on The Young Gods to it - in an encrypted file in case anyone wanted to leak my past, of course. Then I made one about "Rage" to avoid suspicion; by that point I'd already had private investigators dig into each individual and find out if they had children then convince them to forget they'd ever looked into it. I felt this urge inside of me to take their children from them like they did from me." Maya explained.

"And so you attacked the theatre, the school, the fairground…we'd worked all that out." Coulson said.

"With Rage's attack in the public eye, I made the President 'come to his senses' and 'realise' it was time to publically announce R.E.S.C.U.E. to the world as its new saviour. With the announcement, the Young Gods fled but I tracked all their families down; by that point I had all the information on their daily lives I needed. And the rest is history, especially the part where you outed me and R.E.S.C.U.E. collapsed into oblivion." Maya said angrily.

"Yeah, not too sorry about that part, actually." Coulson said.

"If only you were, Phil." Maya sighed, wincing in pain.

"And what about this? When did this all start?" Coulson said, referring to how ill and dishevelled Maya looked compared to when they first met.

"I don't know what's happening to me, Phil. After a few months I would change then feel a different energy inside of me. I could shoot bolts of electricity or regrow a limb or breathe fire. Then as time went on, with that new surge of energy came a stab of pain; every time I change I feel weaker. Then it started to affect me when I transformed back. I…I don't understand what it is. It feels like death. I just feel drained all the time. I can barely stand for too long these days. And yet people call these kinds of powers 'gifts'." Maya explained, the exhaustion clear in her voice.

Coulson stared at her, concerned.

"Rage used to be bulletproof." Coulson noted.

"Rage used to be stronger, too. I keep gaining this new abilities yet other seem to die out, like a cycle of life and death." Maya said.

"So…regeneration, in a sense?" Coulson suggested.

"…It doesn't sound quite so painful when you put it like that, but all that gets regenerated is a new type of pain." Maya groaned, wincing in pain yet again.

"Your pain medication we injected might be waring off. By the looks of it, you couldn't fight even if you wanted to." Coulson said, concerned. Maya didn't respond, she remained staring at the floor, a glaze over her eyes.

She was barely Maya Anderson anymore.

Suddenly, a voice crackled in Coulson's earpiece. He got up and paced around the room.

"Sir, you need to get to the lab. Now. It's _urgent_." Jemma stated. Coulson had rarely heard her sound quite so worried…and almost scared.

"I'll be right there." Coulson said, opening the door and turning back.

"I'll get someone to bring you some food. And Maya? I'm truly sorry about your family." Coulson said solemnly.

"Thank you." Maya whispered as Coulson headed out. Andrew followed him out of the room and into a corridor.

"I ran out of paper listing the issues I picked up on during that conversation." Andrew sighed.

Coulson said nothing in response, rushing to the lab as quickly as he could.

…

"What's wrong?" Coulson asked as he rushed into the lab, where Jemma and Fitz nervously stared at him.

"We've been looking at the new blood and DNA samples from Maya. Or Rage. Both of them, anyway." Fitz stated.

"And?"

"Over the past few months, the DNA has broken down in a reaction. As some cells die, cells which carry the genetic code for the abilities Rage loses, new cells regenerate in their place, carrying the genetic code for the new abilities Rage unlocks. That explains why some aspects of Rage are getting weaker despite it gaining new abilities." Jemma explained.

"What does that mean? Why's this so urgent?" Coulson demanded.

"The reaction that causes the DNA to break down and regenerative is radioactive. Meaning Rage and Maya herself is radioactive." Jemma said, and Coulson's face drained of blood.

"We've run a simulation, and the reaction is only getting stronger and stronger, hence Rage and Maya's depleting health. Eventually, inevitably…the radioactive reaction will be so strong that it will ignite all the chemicals in Rage's system." Fitz revealed.

"So that means -" A petrified Jemma began.

"-She's a walking, talking radioactive bomb." Coulson finished, terrified. Jemma and Fitz nodded nervously.

"And it could go off anytime, anywhere." Fitz said.

"Everyone on this plane is in serious danger." Jemma warned.


	19. The Calm Before The Storm

**19: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM**

Coulson could barely see through the sweat running down his face as he ran back to the interrogation room as fast as he possibly could. Andrew had also returned and was making notes as he stood by the one-way glass, shocked to see Coulson turn up.

"What's wrong with you?" Andrew asked, concerned.

Coulson's eyes remained fixated on Maya as she sat in silence, unknowing.

"…Phil?" Andrew said, the worry in his voice even clearer than before.

"Get everyone to the briefing room." Coulson stuttered.

"But I thought -"

"Dr Garner…Andrew… _please_." Coulson begged.

One look into Coulson's desperate eyes made Andrew nod and hurry away. Coulson took a deep, deep breath before opening the door and flicking a switch on the side of the table. Suddenly, it became magnetised and the cuffs around Maya's hand slammed firmly onto the table, the force too strong for her to pull away from.

"What the hell are you doing?" Maya demanded.

"You're getting sick because you are sick. The chemical process that regenerates your cells and forms your new abilities released radiation. You're a radioactive time bomb, Maya." Coulson said coldly, rushing out of the room and briefly turning back.

"I'm truly sorry." He added solemnly before shutting the door behind him.

"COULSON! PHIL!" Maya exclaimed, desperately trying to break free, her skin beginning to turn an all too familiar navy blue.

Coulson stared intently at the control panel underneath the one-way glass. His finger hovered over a large red button. He looked up again and saw Maya staring directly at him, even though she couldn't see through the glass on her side. Her eyes were a ferocious grey.

Coulson closed his eyes and pushed the button.

There was a loud clanging noise as the whole interrogation room began to lower, the breeze of the outside air rushing into the room, forcing Coulson to grip a handle on the wall tightly. With his glazed over eyes, he observed as the room continued lowering before the whole room, made up on a singular cuboid, dropped from the bottom of The Bus and fell towards the Earth below. Coulson remained watching it until he faintly saw it plunge into the ocean.

He closed his eyes again and didn't want to face what would inevitably happen next.

…

The whole team were gathered in the briefing room curtesy of Andrew, and had been waiting for a while before Coulson slowly walked in. A deathly silence filled the room as Coulson walked to the front of the group.

"…Fitzsimmons informed us about Maya being a radioactive bomb." Daisy revealed.

"…Good." Coulson nodded, his focus wavered by recent events.

"Will you care to tell us why we all stood here not too long ago, looked out that window and saw a big chunk of this plane plunge into the sea?" Lance questioned.

All eyes were on Coulson. He saw the fury on May and Mack's faces.

"She could have ignited at any second and killed everyone on board. I had to act right away." Coulson said.

"For God's sake Coulson, WE HAD A DEAL!" Mack shouted.

"You swore you would come to Mack and I about these kind of things, Coulson!" May exclaimed.

"There may not have been time for that! How can you not understand that it was the right thing to do?" Coulson fought back.

"You flat out murdered her!" Joey protested.

"We don't know that." Coulson sighed.

"Cuffed to a table and dropped into the ocean with no means of escape? Yeah, I'm sure she's fine." Bobbi seethed.

"…It was one life – her life – instead of all of ours or God knows how many innocent people if we let her loose!" Coulson shouted.

"And can we add that from personal experience she cannot be going through a very good time right now." Jemma added, placing a supportive hand on a melancholy looking Fitz.

"I MADE THE RIGHT CALL!" Coulson shouted.

"We're not saying you didn't, we're saying you fell at the first hurdle of the new agreement we had. My faith had finally been renewed and now it's gone again. We're a TEAM." May retaliated.

"Look!" Coulson said, pressing a button on his fake hand and causing a hologram to appear on the holotable. It showed a map with a red dot in the middle of the ocean.

"I put a tracker on Maya when we brought her in. The signal is still there. Even that far underwater, it's working perfectly." Coulson said.

"You're welcome." Fitz whispered under his breath.

"The blast will release a lot of radiation, but no civilian population will get hurt." Coulson continued.

"Just some very unlucky fish." Lance chirped up.

"I didn't kill her; she was already dead. I just made sure she couldn't take anyone else with her. Finally, this is over." Coulson said.

The room fell silent again.

"I hate to be a buzzkill, believe me, but the signal's gone." Lincoln revealed, pointing at the hologram. The red dot had disappeared. Coulson's eyes widened.

"That's not possible, it was working fine." Coulson said.

"We've run countless tests on those trackers; there's no fault with the equipment." Jemma explained.

"Which means she's dead, right?" Joey asked.

"No. We still have readings coming from inside the interrogation room; we'd have detected a radiation spike in the data on our system if the explosion had occurred." Fitz revealed.

"So, she found the tracker and took it out. Great." Bobbi sighed.

"Again, not exactly. The tracker was placed under the skin of her arm via a small incision. Painless but useful." Jemma said.

"So she…ripped the tracker out of her arm? Is she strong enough to do that?" Lincoln wondered.

"No…but Rage would be." Mack said, glaring at Coulson.

"Even a weakened Rage is five times as strong as a weakened Maya." May sighed.

"And Rage could easily tear its way out of some cuffs and a metal box and make its way back to shore." Joey said, worried.

Coulson couldn't look May in the eye despite knowing she was staring at him.

"So the most likely scenario is that Rage has escaped and is on the loose anywhere in the local area, and could explode and contaminate thousands will lethal radiation?" Daisy asked.

"I'm afraid so, yeah." Fitz clarified.

Coulson put his head in his hands and let out another sigh.

"So we're back to square one. No leads. The speed Rage can move at, it could be anywhere." Lance said.

"…Fitzsimmons, see if the CCTV from inside the interrogation room still works; confirm what has or hasn't happened. All we can do aside from that…is sit tight and think of a way to track Rage quickly." Coulson ordered.

"There must be a way of tracking high levels of radiation?" Lincoln suggested.

"We could put something together, but it could take a while. Time we don't have." Fitz said.

"We also need to make sure you're not contaminated, sir; you've been in close contact with Maya – I highly doubt you've been around her long enough to soak anything up but we need to run the tests." Jemma said and Coulson nodded.

"I understand. We can't waste time; Fitzsimmons, get to work on a device to track Rage's radiation levels. Everyone else, we're gonna have to patrol the local area on foot. May, survey on a Quinjet and everyone else will need to take a bike or truck from the hangar. Let's get to it." Coulson said and everyone hurried off.

"May, Mack, I -" Coulson began.

"Don't." – "Do not even try it with me."

…

CCTV showed Rage had indeed broken free and escaped to shore. After days of searching, even with devices Fitzsimmons put together, Rage couldn't be located. There had yet to be any kind of explosion or implosion or radiation leak of any kind. The team had concluded that Rage had found an extremely radioactive location to blend into to avoid detection, but there were so many it would take weeks to search them all.

And yet, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't have a choice.

Coulson sent around half of the main team out to cover some locations, sending lower level agents with them to assist. The remainder stayed on The Bus and waited for the inevitable.

Calculating it would be at least five days for there to even be a chance of finding the location Rage was hiding, Coulson gave the medical team permission to finish up one very special project.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Jemma asked Fitz as he lay on a bed. It was time for the implant to be put in place.

"Yeah. I am." Fitz nodded.

"It's just, it could be extremely dangerous and I don't want you to get your hopes up, I mean -"

"-Jemma, I understand. I believe in Mack and I believe in you. More than I believe in anyone or anything."

"Okay…did your call your mum?" Jemma asked.

"Yeah, this morning. She was crying a lot; took a while to calm her down. She worries a lot." Fitz said.

"Quite right too." Jemma stated.

Silence. Eventually, Mack walked in with two other medical team members.

"They're ready to take you in to the operating suite. Only if you're sure, Turbo." Mack said.

"Absolutely. Don't worry about me; focus on finding Rage." Fitz smiled. Mack smiled back, shaking Fitz's hand and patting him on the back before heading out of the room. Coulson was standing at the doorway; Mack said nothing as he stormed by. Coulson and Fitz shared a look and a smile, wishing each other the best in what was ahead of them soon.

Fitz was soon rolled into the operating suite as the medical team prepared to knock him out before the operation would begin.

"Can I just have a minute?" Jemma asked the team, who all nodded and left her and Fitz alone. Jemma looked around nervously at all the instruments and tools.

"Jemma, you use all this stuff every day, don't look so nervous." Fitz chuckled.

"Yes, but it's not every day they're used on _you_."

"Jemma," Fitz said, holding Jemma's hand tightly, "it's gonna be okay."

"…Leo, I -"

"-Jemma, please. I'm gonna be okay. No goodbyes and no tears, okay? I'll see you soon." Fitz smiled. Jemma nodded and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you." He whispered. She couldn't hold back her tears any longer.

"I'm a mess." She chuckled.

"But you're my mess." Fitz smiled. Jemma smiled back.

A moment.

Instinctively, she leant down and pressed her lips softly against his. It was happy and it was sad and it was beautiful.

It was Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons. It was perfect.

…

Coulson sat at his desk as Andrew walked into his office.

"Any news?" Andrew asked. Coulson shook his head.

"No luck."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Andrew said, taking a seat on the couch in the corner of the room and looking out the window.

"I thought I made the right call." Coulson admitted sadly.

"If you ask me, you did. I think everyone knows you did, you just lacked in the execution department." Andrew said.

"…Are they gonna forgive me? May and Mack?" Coulson asked.

"…Just give them time. I can't say I know Mack too well, but Melinda will come round eventually. Even if she tries to hide it." Andrew smiled.

"…I can't see us coming out on top, Andrew. I just, I can't…I don't want to lose." Coulson admitted, tearing up slightly. Andrew looked him straight in the eye.

"Then don't."

…

Jemma wasn't allowed in until the next morning. Fitz's face lit up when he saw her approach his bed.

"Did it work?" Jemma asked the nearby nurse.

"We don't know at this stage; we don't want to push him to try anything until he's comfortable. I doubt the medication and pain relief has even worn off yet. Since the technology you designed seems to at least be repairing the damage to the spinal cord, the incisions we made as part of the operation should heal very quickly too. I imagine he'll only need to stay in bed for a few days before it's all healed. The real question is if the firing of the electrical impulses worked; that is one thing we don't know yet." The nurse revealed.

"Thank you." Jemma smiled, returning to Fitz's bedside.

"You look tired. Shall I come back later?" Jemma asked.

"No, no. I'm glad you're here." Fitz smiled.

"How're you feeling?"

"Like I did when I fell off the treadmill at the gym back at The Academy." Fitz smirked and Jemma laughed.

"One of the funniest moments of my life." Jemma grinned.

"That did bloody hurt." Fitz recalled with a chuckle.

"…No news on Rage yet, I'm afraid." Jemma revealed and Fitz nodded understandingly.

Silence.

"Can you clarify something for me?" Fitz asked eventually (and nervously).

"Of course I can."

"…It might have just been me high on meds, but…you kissed me, right?"

"…Yes, I did." Jemma blushed, looking down at the floor.

"It was very nice." Fitz smiled.

"It was, yes." Jemma agreed.

"I was just wondering if that was ever gonna happen ag-"

Fitz was silenced by Jemma's lips meeting his for a second glorious time. They parted only once they required air and shared an embarrassed smile.

"Jemma?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you wanna have dinner sometime?"

"I really, really would."

"…Good."

Silence again, but this time it was a blissful one.

"…Jemma…"

"Yeah?"

"…Look."

"At what?"

"Jemma… _look_." Fitz said, tears in his eyes as he pointed to the end of his bed.

They both cried happy tears as he wiggled his toes for the first time in months.

…

"Ugh, can this day get any worse?" An exhausted Coulson sighed.

Mack rushed into the office in a state of panic, making Coulson and Andrew instantly stand up.

"Someone's transmitting on our radio frequency. Tremors picked it up." Mack revealed. Coulson was left confused as he pressed a button on his fake hand and turned on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radio wave. Greeting him was a familiar voice he was hearing again far too soon.

 _"Coulson, it's found me. Rage has found me again. I repeat, Rage has found me again!"_

"I recognise that voice. Who is that?" Andrew asked. Coulson sighed.

"Ward."

"As in…Grant Ward?" Andrew asked.

"Yep." Mack grimaced. Coulson felt his heart start beating faster.

"…Day got worse."


	20. All That Silence Said

**20: ALL THAT SILENCE SAID**

Having traced the location of Ward's broadcast, The Bus soared towards its location – New York City.

"Ward's been extremely busy, travelling all the way back to New York." Daisy noted as the entire team bar Fitz were gathered in the briefing room.

"He certainly has. We traced his broadcast location to Liberty Island. Being Ward, he's put hundreds of tourists in danger by letting Rage find him there." Coulson revealed.

"How did Rage even track him down? We couldn't even do that." Lincoln asked.

"When Rage last confronted Ward in Greece we have to assume it read his thoughts and has been tracking him like that ever since, the same way it used Lance to find HQ's location. Dropping it into the ocean probably angered it enough to renew its spree of revenge." Coulson speculated, earning him a glare from May and Mack.

"What's our ploy?" Bobbi asked.

"We can't take any chances here; we need to bring Rage in. I've called in a favour from an old friend to get us a way of keeping Rage away from civilian population. I'm sending most of the team to Liberty Island to bring Rage in; it's still weakening all the time so I'm hoping this to be an easy extraction. If there's a chance to bring Ward in, take it just in case. Fitz is obviously still in recovery so he'll remain on The Bus, as will Bobbi and Joey; you're both still recovering from your injuries." Coulson explained.

"With all due respect sir, not gonna happen. I'm seeing this thing through till the end." Bobbi stated.

"Yeah, me too. I'm not gonna sit idly by while that thing puts people in danger." Joey added.

Coulson took a moment to observe the determination in their eyes then nodded.

"The more the merrier, I guess." Coulson said.

"Bob, are you sure about this? You're not fully there yet." Lance whispered, concerned.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." Bobbi replied with a smile.

"Simmons?" Coulson invited, and Jemma joined him at the front, holding a circular metal device in her hand with an orange light in the centre.

"We adapted these devices from Prototype 3427, the teleport that Fitz, Lincoln and I used to escape when Rage attacked HQ a while ago. Fitz and I have been developing them since then, placing the core technology into a small casing. They're still far from ready but they might prove useful today. Press the button in the centre and it'll take you to a different location within a 100 metre radius." Jemma explained.

"You managed to make personal teleports?" Mack asked.

"After many sleepless nights and hard work…almost. We can't predict exactly where within the radius it takes you and we haven't found a way to stop the circuits from shorting out. Unfortunately that means they only work once. Just use them wisely; we only have enough for one each and that's only because of spares and the fact that Leo is still bedridden." Jemma explained.

"They'll still be a huge asset today, great work Jemma." Coulson smiled.

"Okay, so we get dropped off at Liberty Island, bring in Rage using the favour you've pulled and get it away from civilian population." Lincoln summarised and Coulson nodded.

"Just remember, Rage could still release its radiation at any time; Maya hasn't got long left. Going after Ward will more than likely be taking everything she has out of her." Coulson said.

"I'm almost starting to feel bad for the woman." Lance sighed.

"She never asked for any of this." May said.

"Okay everyone, get yourselves prepared and ready to move out. We'll be at Liberty Island within twenty minutes. Good luck, everyone." Coulson concluded.

There was a strength and bond felt in the room that gave everyone a sense of comfort and confidence.

…

"Right, you've got some magazines there, food is on its way and…I think that's everything sorted. Hopefully you'll be up and about tomorrow. The fact that you managed to walk across the room this morning without aid is astounding." Jemma smiled as she fiddled around with the sheets on Fitz's bed as he grinned at her.

"I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about. Well, terrified about." Fitz sighed.

"Leo, I'll be absolutely fine." Jemma reassured.

"Yeah, thinking about my girlfriend being in close proximity to a murder beast is an extremely comforting thought." Fitz said and Jemma smiled; he'd never called her his girlfriend before – she quite liked it.

"Honestly, you should be more relaxed than ever. I'll be able to focus more than ever for this mission since I won't have to worry about your safety. My biggest fear will be you rolling off the bed." Jemma smirked.

"Oh, the horror." Fitz chuckled.

"Don't worry about me. Honestly." Jemma said, holding Fitz's hand in hers.

"If you say so." Fitz smiled. Jemma smiled back, leaning in and kissing him passionately.

"Then tomorrow we can finally get that dinner you promised me." Jemma said.

"Deal." Fitz smiled, kissing her again.

…

"I'm not a medical doctor, but I'm unsure that Bobbi and Joey should be out fighting." Andrew remarked as he sat with Coulson in his office.

"They're both insisting. I have every confidence in them." Coulson said as Daisy and May walked in.

"We're landing in five." May declared and Coulson nodded.

"Sure you don't want to join the fight?" Daisy teased as she smiled at Andrew.

"I think there would be quite a few people objecting to that." Andrew smiled back.

"You got that right." May said. Andrew smiled at her.

"Assemble everyone at the hangar." Coulson ordered and Daisy nodded.

"You three just go careful, okay? I'll be here waiting for you when you get back." Andrew said, shaking Daisy's hand.

"We always come back, remember?" Daisy remarked as she headed out.

"Good luck, Phil." Andrew said, shaking Coulson's hand as he went. May held out her hand for him; he knocked it away and hugged her.

"See you soon, Melinda." Andrew said.

"See you when I get back, Andrew." May said, hugging him back before heading off to join Coulson in the corridor.

"May, I-" Coulson began.

"Save it. We have a mission to focus on." May said.

"I know my leadership hasn't been perfect, but-"

"-Phil, please."

"May. I just want you to hear me out." Coulson pleaded.

"I don't need to hear you out. It's a stressful time, and I know you're not the perfect leader, but you're probably still the best one for the job out of all of us. You're part of the team, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for a team member. Today I want to fight Rage, and maybe Grant Ward, but not you. Not someone I care about." May explained.

"…I am sorry."

"…I know. Now let's finish this."

…

Everyone going out on the mission was gathered in the hangar of The Bus, waiting to be dropped off at Liberty Island. The Bus was floating directly above it, engines on silent and cloak on.

"Send it in now. We don't have to wait for it to turn up. Thanks." Coulson said into his phone before hanging up and walking to the front of the team.

"Rage isn't as much of a threat physically as it was previously, but it could still kill any one of us if it needed to. We can't kill it here because it would flood a nation of people with lethal radiation, but we need to act fast. I aim for this to be a simple extraction; Rage is the primary target, but feel free to bring Ward in if you can." Coulson explained.

"Just bear in mind your teleports only carry one person at a time. Like I said, still in development." Jemma added.

"The Bus is being lowered as we speak; we jump out as fast as possible and track down Rage. Get civilians to safety whenever you can. Believe me, you'll know when it's time to extract." Coulson stated.

Anticipation and dread filled the room as everyone began muttering to each other. Coulson stared at the large door, waiting for it to open so the last stand could begin.

Lincoln grabbed Daisy's hand and guided her to the side of the room.

"I just wanted to say good luck. And be careful." Lincoln said.

"You too." Daisy smiled, playfully poking him in the chest.

"Daisy, I, uh…well, I…"

Daisy smirked as she pulled Lincoln close and kissed him with all she had.

"I love you too." She whispered. They shared a wide, passionate smile.

"It's not too late to change your mind." Lance said to Bobbi on the opposite side of the room.

"Hunter, stop. I'm more than ready for this." Bobbi said.

"But your arm-"

"-Is fine. You just make sure to not go blindly running into danger." Bobbi warned.

"Yes, ma'am." Lance smiled. She chuckled and kissed him.

"I love you, even if you are an idiot."

"I love you too."

Everyone felt The Bus come to a halt as it hovered just above the ground. From outside, screams of terrified tourists could be heard alongside crashes and the cries of a monster.

"Let's go." Coulson said, turning to face the group. They all nodded as the door opened. The team jumped to the ground, weapons primed, and embraced the challenge that lay ahead of them.

…

Crowd after crowd of people rushed to get as far away from the island as possible, the sea of terrified citizens slightly bewildering the team as the hopped off The Bus, with quickly shot back upwards and cloaked itself; S.H.I.E.L.D. had to remain in the shadows.

Another roar echoed across the island; Rage was ripping streetlamps, rock and earth apart and throwing the debris in a hundred different directions, its grey eyes constantly on the move, searching for its target.

"Splinter into groups!" Coulson ordered, rushing off with Bobbi and Lance. Daisy, Lincoln and Joey formed another team while May, Mack and Jemma teamed up. The three groups spread out across the island, dodging debris and hiding behind trees and lumps of concrete as they finally saw Rage.

It hardly moved from the one spot, its navy blue skin flaking off and the rock protruding from its body now crumbly and worn away. The monster of a being barely resembled the horrific creature it once was.

"Jesus, look at that thing." Joey observed, shocked.

"We need to contain it, fast. No way is that surviving more than a few hours at most." Lincoln diagnosed.

Daisy jumped as a rogue hand grabbed her shoulder. Instinctively, she lunged her elbow at the person behind her, sending Grant Ward falling to the floor.

"Nice to see you too." Ward commented.

"Don't do that again!" Daisy warned.

"I don't plan to. Thanks for answering my call. I'm glad you didn't change your radio frequency after all this time." Ward smiled.

"We're here for Rage, not to save your ass." Lincoln said.

"Sorry, who's this guy?" Ward asked, staring at Lincoln intently.

"Where are the other guys?" Joey asked.

"Around somewhere." Lincoln answered.

"Ah, Joey, isn't it? Nice to see you again." Ward smirked.

"Be quiet." Daisy ordered.

"Maybe I'm just excited to talk to you all again. I've been on the run, remember? Took a nice trip to see Lady Liberty then Rage shows up. I've spent far too long hiding and waiting for my backup." Ward explained.

"Again, we're not your backup." Lincoln seethed.

"Again, who is this guy?" Ward retaliated.

"Of all places, why come back to New York?" Daisy asked.

"We always find our way home eventually." Ward said solemnly.

…

"We have Ward. I repeat, we have Ward." Daisy's voice crackled through everyone's earpiece.

"Okay, everyone focus on Rage. Icers primed and ready." Coulson replied as everyone readied their weapons.

"Can anyone else hear a helicopter?" Bobbi asked.

"…Close." Coulson replied.

…

"Mind if I borrow this?" Ward asked, kicking Lincoln to the floor and grabbing a gun from his belt.

"To hell with this." He added, standing up and aiming at Rage.

"NO!" Daisy shouted.

It was too late, and Ward fired.

Rage let out a hideous scream as two bullets plunged into its body, causing it to turn and see Ward. It leaped across the island and sent everyone flying as it collided with the floor. Sending out bolts of electricity all over the place, everyone ducked for cover.

"YOU CAN'T KILL IT! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" May shouted over to Ward, who got another few shots in, sending Rage momentarily falling to the floor. Daisy stood up, sending a shockwave towards Rage. It collapsed back to the floor and struggled to get up, but the force was too strong for it this time.

With her other hand, Daisy sent another shockwave towards Ward, sending him flying into a tree. He fell to the ground, unconscious, while Joey used his powers to melt the gun lying next to him.

"Everyone, now!" Mack shouted as the team all stood and fired several rounds of icer bullets at Rage, who let out a final roar before falling unconscious, exhausted.

"Oh. My. God." Jemma exhaled, looking upwards.

Before the team's very eyes, they were covered in a large shadow as an enormous vehicle hovered about them. A Helicarrier.

"Okay, definitely not a helicopter." Bobbi noted.

"After the Battle of New York, Fury arranged for a few Helicarriers to be stored in underground facilities as part of some new scheme. One of them was under Stark Tower. Maria Hill sorted it out for me. Thought it might come in handy one day." Coulson smiled as the bottom of the Helicarrier opened up and two small platforms flew out, landing on the ground.

One of the platforms was filled with seat after seat; the other scooped up the unconscious Rage before lasers switched on, forming walls all around it before flying back up into the Helicarrier.

"Everyone get on!" Coulson shouted as the team hurried to the platform and found a seat. Mack rushed over and picked up Ward before joining them. When everyone was strapped in, the platform elevated up into the awe-inspiring spectacle of a vehicle, which gloriously ascended skyward.

…

Coulson and the team all observed through a thick glass window as Rage lay unconscious in the middle of a metal room.

"Specially reinforced walls; all the radiation will be contained when it leaks out. IT's very complicated stuff apparently." Coulson revealed.

"Actually, it's quite simple. It comes down to how the mixture of-" Jemma began.

"-Simmons, I think we're good." Daisy smiled.

"What about Ward?" Lincoln asked.

"I had some agents pick him up and lock him away on The Bus." Coulson answered.

"…And there was us thinking something was gonna go horribly wrong and that this would a dangerous mission." Joey chuckled.

At that moment, there was a loud explosion and every room flashed red as the lights changed and a siren sounded.

"Well, that was perfect TV show timing." Joey added with a sigh.

"What the hell's going on?" Mack wondered.

The sound of gunshots silenced the team.

"We've been raided." May said angrily.

Another two explosions led Lincoln to rush to a window and look outside.

"Oh my god…there are three jets blowing holes in the carrier and sending armed soldiers in. There's something written on the jets, hang on…" Lincoln said, squinting his eyes.

"Who are they?" Coulson asked. Lincoln faced him, shocked.

"…R.E.S.C.U.E."

…

"They're still active?" Daisy asked.

"It seems so. Three guesses what they're after." Mack said.

"…Rage. Or Maya, I suppose." Jemma said.

"Or either. We don't know what they want; they've been waiting for an opportunity to strike. This is probably all over the news by now; they'd have seen Rage was weak. This is their perfect time to obtain hit without it fighting back." Coulson speculated.

"They're not getting it without a fight." Lance said.

"Should've brought my shotgun-axe." Mack sighed.

Two R.E.S.C.U.E. soldiers came round the corner, weapons aimed at the team.

"Stay where you are! We just want Rage and then we'll go." One soldier demanded.

"In your dreams." Daisy stated, sending a shockwave that knocked them both to the floor.

"Split up and fight back. Daisy, Bobbi, May, guard Rage. The rest of us take out the soldiers. We can't let them get their hands on Rage, god knows what they want with it." Coulson ordered and everyone parted ways, but not before Lincoln and Lance kissed Daisy and Bobbi goodbye.

…

"Just stay behind me, Simmons." Mack said as he and Jemma headed down a corridor.

"Don't worry, I fully intend to." Jemma said. A soldier appeared out of nowhere; Mack kicked him to the floor, smashed his head against the wall and took his gun.

"Much more like it." Mack smiled as another soldier appeared, weapon primed.

"MACK!" Jemma shouted, instinctively taking off her shoe and throwing it at the soldier. Mack shot him in the chest, picking Jemma's shoe up and throwing it back to her with a smirk.

"…Really?"

"I panicked."

…

"I don't like how quiet it is." Bobbi noted a few minutes later as she, May and Daisy kept their eyes on the end of the corridor.

"It's a big place, they might have gotten lost or -" Daisy began.

An explosion from above silenced her as debris covered the women alongside four R.E.S.C.U.E. soldiers. In the confusion, one knocked Bobbi to the floor aggressively; Bobbi jumped back up, wrapping her legs around him and sending him flying into the wall. May incapacitated another while Daisy sent a shockwave at the remaining two soldiers to incapacitate them.

Bobbi had heard a crunch as she fell. She emptied her pocket; her teleport had been smashed into pieces.

…

"Boys, you really don't want to try anything. I promise you." Lance said as three guards had him and Joey cornered against a wall.

"FIRE!" One soldier ordered, sending bullets towards the pair. Joey lifted his hands and the bullets melted, before turning his attentions to the guns themselves.

As they melted in the soldier's hands, Lance punched one of them and threw him into another as Joey kicked the third in the head, sending them all to the floor.

…

"I count five heading towards us." Coulson whispered to Lincoln as they peered round the end of a corridor, watching as a small group of R.E.S.C.U.E. soldiers approached them.

"What formation?" Lincoln asked.

"Two in front, three behind."

"I take the two in front, you take the three behind?" Lincoln suggested and Coulson nodded.

"3…2…1…now!"

Lincoln jumped in front of the soldiers, sending bolts flying into the two guards in front. As they fell to the floor, Coulson appeared and rapidly shot the remaining three.

"Normally this would be a high-five moment." Coulson said.

"I feel the stakes are a bit too high for that." Lincoln commented.

"You're probably right." Coulson agreed as the two ran off.

…

It was a long battle, but more and more soldiers kept arriving; R.E.S.C.U.E. had clearly been recruiting under the radar over the last few months, all in anticipation for this moment.

Daisy, May and Bobbi had taken down their sixth wave of soldiers and were utterly exhausted when Daisy turned to check on Rage.

"Guys…" Daisy said. May and Bobbi turned around and looked inside the room Rage was in.

But Rage was no longer in there. A thin, yellowed Maya Anderson was. She was sat up, her legs tucked up into her chest and arms wrapped around them. She wasn't long for the world.

"…Maya?" Daisy asked. Maya looked at her, tears in her eyes, but said nothing. She wasn't strong enough to.

"Look at her. The poor thing." Bobbi sighed.

"She doesn't have long. We just need to wait it out." May said. Daisy and Bobbi looked at her, almost offended.

"I know it's a cold thing to say, but it's too late for her. She'll see her husband and son again soon." May said.

"But what about -" Daisy began.

She was stopped when a bullet shot through her shoulder and sent her falling to the floor. May picked up a gun from a nearby unconscious soldier and fired back, taking out the two soldiers that had appeared. Bobbi rushed to Daisy's aid, but blood was pouring out of her.

"She needs medical attention, stat." Bobbi observed.

"Daisy, use your teleport. Contact The Bus and get yourself seen." May ordered.

"I…I can't leave you. You guys need me. What if more guys come?" Daisy asked, pained.

"You'll bleed out if you stay. Daisy, go. Please." Bobbi appealed. After a moment of delegation, Daisy nodded and gave the two women a smile.

"Be careful. Make sure everyone gets off okay." She nodded.

"Get yourself cleaned up." May smiled. Daisy got out her teleport and pressed the button in the middle, vanishing in a flash of orange light.

"…And then there were two." Bobbi sighed.

"Get down!" May shouted as six soldiers appeared and shot all over the place. May and Bobbi ducked for cover at the end of the corridor as bullets littered the door of the metal room where Maya was sat.

Suddenly, a loud bang and a fizz as the control panel outside the door exploded as a bullet smashed it open. The door automatically slid open.

"The locking mechanism's fried!" Bobbi shouted.

"Dammit!" May shouted, jumping out of cover and shooting all the soldiers down.

"Maya won't last long. If the door isn't shut the whole carrier gets flooded. Everyone dies." Bobbi realised, panicked.

"There's a button on the inside as a backup; press it and get back out quickly." May ordered. Bobbi obeyed and rushed quickly into the room, sharing a short glance with Maya before pressing the locking mechanism inside. As she let go of the button the door rose back up.

"It doesn't work; the circuit must've friend this side, too. It only shuts if someone presses the button at all times." Bobbi revealed. She looked at May, who saw in her eyes what she was going to do.

"Don't you dare!" May cried as Bobbi pressed the button; May rolled into the room just as the door shut.

"Why did you do that?" Bobbi asked.

"Because I'm not letting you do this. The panel can be rewired. Hold it shut and I'll try to work on it." May said.

"We might not have time for that!"

"It's a risk we're gonna take."

…

"Everyone, state your location." Coulson said into his earpiece as Lincoln took out another soldier.

"I think we're in the southeast of the carrier." Jemma's crackled reply sounded.

"We're in the middle somewhere." Lance replied.

"Is everyone alright?" Coulson asked.

"We've got a situation here, actually. The circuit holding the door shut is fried; it can only be manually held shut from inside the room with Maya, and she's not looking too hot." Bobbi reported.

"You two, get the hell out of there. We'll evacuate if we need to; I can't see any more soldiers." Coulson said.

"If Maya dies, I imagine they'll give up anyway. They probably need her alive." Jemma said.

"Bob, get the bloody hell out of there right now or so help me!" Lance shouted.

"I'm trying to rewire it; this could work." May revealed.

"Is Daisy okay?" Lincoln panicked.

"She got shot in the shoulder; we made her teleport out, she's safe." Bobbi said.

"We can't risk this. There are no soldiers left anyway so there's no reason to stay here. Let the whole place get flooded with radiation and then leave it to crash; we're heading for the ocean anyway. Everyone get your teleports ready." Coulson ordered.

"Bit of a problem with that, sir. Mine got broken in a scuffle." Bobbi revealed, tears in her eyes.

"What?" May asked.

"I didn't think it would be this much of a problem." Bobbi added.

"Jesus Christ, Bob. What are we gonna do?" Lance asked, petrified.

"…I know what I have to do. You all need to go. Maya probably has minutes at most. Everyone get out of here." Bobbi said.

"No way in hell!" Lance said.

"We're not leaving you, Bobbi." Mack said.

"Everyone get back to Bobbi and May, now!" Coulson ordered as everyone rushed to get to their location.

Maya couldn't hold herself any longer, collapsing to the floor with a slight thud.

…

"May, you need to go right now!" Bobbi demanded.

"Let me do this rewiring, it will work." May said, fiddling with the wires.

"There's no time!" Bobbi shouted.

"Just hang on Bob, we're coming!" Lance shouted into his earpiece as he ran faster than he ever had before.

"Hunter…I love you." Bobbi sobbed. May frustratingly backed away from the wiring; it was beyond repair.

"Bob, stop it."

"I'm so glad we found each other again. I love you and I love all you guys. This is no one's fault." Bobbi cried.

"Bobbi, don't do-"

Bobbi pulled out and discarded her earpiece, still holding onto the button as she wiped her tears. She looked to May.

"Go. Please."

"Bobbi, I…"

"You don't have to say anything. It's just Bobbi Morse, taking one for the team." She smiled through her sadness.

Slowly, Maya reached her hand out towards Bobbi as a smile graced her pale, cracked lips.

"…Kaiden…" She whispered and closed her eyes as the life left her body. May watched this, and her eyes widened as Maya's skin started flaking off as a red glow shined from the pit of her stomach, slowly spreading across her body.

"It's okay, May. Go. Please." Bobbi whispered, unable to watch what was happening. May took her teleport out of her pocket, tears in her eyes.

"Bobbi…I'm so sorry." May whispered as a tear fell.

"It's okay, it's okay. It's what an agent does, right?" Bobbi nodded, facing May.

May hit Bobbi with a right hook, knocking her out and sending her to the floor. She placed the teleport into Bobbi's hands and pressed the button, watching as Bobbi vanished in a mass of orange.

"Yes. It is." May nodded as another tear fell. She pressed the button and the door firmly closed again.

Red lights and a loud siren filled the room as what remained of Maya Anderson wittered away into a skeletal figure, the red light in her body fading as the radiation filled the room.

A few corridors away, Coulson recognised May's screams. His legs gave way and he fell to the floor with the horrible realisation of what she'd done.

…

"MAY!" Coulson screamed as the team all reached the metal room at the same time. The door to the room was open; as he approached it he already saw the blackened shell of Maya Anderson lying still in the centre of the room. He let out a sob as he walked in and saw Melinda May lying in a heap on the floor.

"Melinda!" He cried, leaning down to her. Her skin was flaking and every part of her was limp, yet there was still some life in her eyes.

"She absorbed all of the radiation; the mix of Inhuman DNA within it means it can't affect any of us once inside a host. Fitz and I did tests when we had Maya in custody." Jemma explained, tears in her eyes.

"The carrier's engines have given up; I can feel it falling." Joey reported sadly. Everyone gathered around May with tears in their eyes.

"You saved Bob." Lance said emotionally. May looked at him and nodded.

"It's…what an…agent…does." She whispered.

"Melinda, stay with me, okay? We're gonna get you help." Coulson said through his tears as he held May in his arms. May closed her eyes and smiled in a way she never had in her life.

"Andrew…" She whispered before her head fell back.

"No, no, May…MAY!" Coulson shouted. Jemma let out a wail as she sobbed.

"Let me try and revive her! I've done it before!" Lincoln shouted, moving towards May and sending a bolt of electricity into her. Nothing happened.

He tried again. And again. And again.

"Come on, May. COME ON." Lincoln begged.

Again, it didn't work.

"Lincoln…"

"I've done it before, COME ON!" Lincoln wailed.

After another three attempts, his sadness got the better of him.

"We need a Quinjet here RIGHT NOW!" Mack ordered through his earpiece, holding back his tears.

"You guys go. I'm not leaving her alone." Coulson said, unable to take his eyes off of a lifeless May.

"Sir, the Quinjet might not make it for you in time." Joey argued.

"GO! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Coulson shouted furiously. Reluctantly, everyone activated their teleports and vanished as Coulson sobbed into May's stomach.

"Please…no." He cried.

…

The Quinjet arrived and shot open a hole in the helicarrier just in time to get Coulson and May out before the large vehicle violently crashed into the ocean.

It flew back to The Bus, where the rest of the team had already been picked up from the various locations they'd ended up.

Jemma led a medical team from the Quinjet to the medical bay as they rolled May into the room.

"…May?" Fitz asked from his bed as the group rushed past him. Jemma looked back at him with a tear-stained face, leading him to well up.

"…No." He whispered.

As all the team gathered by the bed May was placed on, Daisy and Bobbi rushed in; Lincoln and Lance pulled them into respective hugs as they cried.

Almost immediately, a S.H.I.E.L.D. nurse began attempts to resuscitate May as Jemma watched on, her tears uncontrollable as she tried to stop her hands from shaking.

"Dr Simmons, you shouldn't watch this; I know there's a personal attachment…" The nurse began.

"No…no, I need to be here. Keep trying. Please." Jemma begged.

After a minute or so of pressing down on May's chest and attempting to bag her to bring oxygen back into her system, the nurse slowed down and eventually backed away, her head looking down at the floor as Jemma sobbed loudly.

"Please, no! Just try again, one more time! Please!" Jemma cried desperately.

"There's no heartbeat, I'm sorry."

In an instant, the whole world came crashing down. Jemma took the lifeless hand in theirs as more tears flowed.

"Don't go. Not like this. Please! Please!"

But they were already gone; their eyes, that would never blink again, looked upwards to their new destination. It was their time to join the stars.

"Time of death, 11:35pm."

As soon as the nurse said the words, Jemma rushed back to the group and sobbed into Mack's shoulder, as everyone broke down. Bobbi pushed Lance away and threw up in the corner of the room. Coulson's face turned white as he ran out of the room; the second the door shut behind him he fell to his knees, his head in his hands.

"Coulson?"

Coulson looked up to see Andrew stood there, confused. The expression on Coulson's face told Andrew everything. The complete, devastating truth. Andrew fell to the floor as he screamed.

Melinda May, the Cavalry, was gone.

The silence that filled The Bus for the rest of the night spoke more of the events than words ever could.


	21. Afterwards

**21: AFTERWARDS**

It took Coulson half an hour to force himself out of bed, just like it had been for the past week. Ever since that terrible, gut-wrenching day; the day S.H.I.E.L.D. lost one of their own.

He couldn't remember exactly when he'd started wearing ties again. At first he stopped because he had yet to master his false hand, but once he got comfortable with it he'd started up again. Today, he didn't put on a tie. He threw on what he could find and headed straight for his office – giving no orders and talking to no one.

The Bus reeked of grief. It was everywhere, like an infection. Not everyone was present when the fallen agent had taken their last breath, but they all felt like they had been. They'd all been cut and it appeared as if this was a wound that would never heal.

Coulson sat at his desk, wishing there was a way to go back in time. Had he just made a few little changes, decided against some actions…everyone he loved would still be safe. Be alive.

There was a knock at the door to his office. It had been a while since he's spoken so had to clear his throat first.

"C-Come in."

The young man entered the room with a cautious smile, tentatively walking up to the desk.

"Sorry to interrupt you, sir."

"We all know I wasn't doing anything important, Agent Gutierrez."

"I'm still sorry." Joey said softly.

"What do you need?" Coulson asked.

"I was just…I was asked to deliver this for you to sign off. It's the update to their file to say that…to say…"

"To update their status as 'deceased'. Thank you, Joey. Is that all?" Coulson asked, taking the file from Joey's hand and slamming it onto the desk.

"No, sir. I'll leave you to it." Joey sighed, heading for the door.

"How is everyone doing?" Coulson asked suddenly.

"…As you'd expect them to be doing. Some are being strong, some are in pieces. Dr Garner's busy with grief counselling. Lincoln's not getting out of bed. Hasn't left his room in three days." Joey explained sadly.

"Understandable, given the circumstances. It wasn't his fault."

"It wasn't yours either."

"Wasn't it?"

"…It was a heroic act. They died a hero." Joey said.

"You can't even say their name." Coulson sighed.

"Neither can you."

Saying nothing more, Joey walked out as Coulson tried his best not to cry again.

…

Lincoln sat in his room staring out the window in silence, the tears on his face only recently dried. He jumped at the sound of a knock on the door.

"…Who is it?" He choked.

"It's me. Again. Lincoln, it's been three days. Please let me in. I…I need you." Daisy pleaded through the door. Lincoln sighed, wiping his eyes and unlocking it before immediately lying back on his bed. Daisy stares at him in silence for a few moments before sitting on the bed next to him and stroking his hair.

"…Talk to me." Daisy whispered, her face red from days of crying.

"…It's my fault. I couldn't revive her." Lincoln sighed.

"This is NOT on you. Even if you could revive her, the radiation she absorbed was lethal. There's nothing you could've done. She died the hero she always has been." Daisy said, taking his hand in hers.

Lincoln took a deep breath and kissed Daisy's hand, wrapping an arm around her as she lay back on the bed and snuggled into his chest.

"I'm being selfish; you've known her much longer. How are you doing?" Lincoln asked, comfortingly running his hand through Daisy's hair.

"…I have no idea. No one's really talking about it. She didn't deserve this. Andrew's busy with grief counselling but HE's the patient so I can't even talk to him about this. He's in pieces. We all are." Daisy explained sadly.

"I'm sorry I haven't been there these last few days, I just…I don't know what I'm feeling. I'm sad and I'm angry." Lincoln said.

"Me too."

"How's your shoulder doing?"

"Getting a bit better."

Silence.

"…It's so unfair, Lincoln." Daisy sobbed, breaking down and crying into his lap. He wrapped his arms around tightly around her waist and cried with her.

…

"Maya's body wasn't recovered from the Helicarrier's remains; it was in such a fragile state I'm sure it disintegrated upon contacting the water." Fitz explained as he stood in Coulson's office, Coulson himself sat at his desk barely paying attention.

"Make sure we still arrange a ceremony for her; she didn't deserve all of this. She was a victim." Coulson said.

"Of course." Fitz nodded, making notes on his tablet.

"It's good to see you up and about again, Fitz. That implant worked wonders." Coulson said, faking a smile.

"Good as new." Fitz nodded, faking a smile himself.

Silence.

"…Mack's gonna get her things out of her locker." Fitz said eventually, looking at the floor and concentrating on not crying.

"Good. Thank him for me." Coulson nodded.

"I will."

"…We're burying her in a private S.H.I.E.L.D. cemetery in three days. Make sure everyone gets the details; when, where and everything." Coulson said and Fitz nodded.

Silence again.

"Well, I suppose we should just -"

Coulson was stopped by Fitz rushing round the desk and hugging him. Coulson slowly hugged him back as he let some tears flow.

…

Mack took a deep breath as he picked open May's locker. He smiled at the sight of one of her favourite guns, a spare S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket and an old looking book.

Grabbing a cardboard box, he began to transfer the contents of the locker into it before he became aware of a presence at the doorway. Turning to his right, he saw Lance staring at the box sadly.

"Didn't mean to interrupt." Lance said solemnly.

"No, it's fine. Glad of the company." Mack admitted as he examined the book closely with a slight smirk.

"I used to catch her reading this from time to time, when things were quiet. She didn't like people to know she read for some reason; she never told me what the damn thing was about. It was definitely this one; always the same book with the ivy green cover." Mack recalled.

"Open it and find out." Lance suggested. Mack gently shook his head.

"It was her business." He added, placing it into the box and shutting the now empty locker.

Silence.

"…She was a bloody good agent." Lance said, looking down to the floor.

"The best." Mack agreed solemnly.

"This is all R.E.S.C.U.E.'s fault; I'm gonna kill the bastards." Lance said angrily.

"Before we even think of our next move we need to say goodbye. Properly. I know May wasn't one for soppiness and love, but she deserves it right now." Mack stated.

"…The team's falling apart. Lincoln still hasn't left his room." Lance revealed.

"…May held us together like it was the most natural thing in the world. She was like a second mom to most of us." Mack smiled gently.

"She really was." A new voice echoed into the room.

Mack and Lance turned to see Bobbi had just walked in, her hair a mess and face pale. She'd clearly been crying a lot over the past week.

"I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time she probably saved my arse and I didn't even know it." Lance said as he walked over to Bobbi and took her hand.

"She wouldn't ask for as much as a thank you." Mack said.

"She gave her life for mine. I can't forget that." Bobbi cried quietly.

"I know I never will. I'll wake up every day and thank her for being able to wake up next to you." Lance said, kissing Bobbi's hair as Mack moved over to his own locker.

"My brother gave me this last year; I think it's time I had another taste of it." Mack said, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and three shot glasses from the locker and resting them all down on a bench. He poured three shots and handed one to Lance and one to Bobbi.

"A spy's goodbye." Bobbi said tearfully.

"To our friend, May. We're gonna miss you." Mack said as a tear fell from his cheek. They all tapped their glasses carefully against each other's and drank the shot.

"Sleep well, Melinda." Lance choked.

"…Our friend." Bobbi added.

…

"Hey, you."

The soft voice filling the lab gave Fitz the biggest amount of comfort he'd felt in days. He was sat at his desk barely concentrating on some blueprints, turning around to see Jemma timidly looking at him.

"I told you not to work today." Fitz said glumly.

"I didn't want you to be alone. Now's not the time for loneliness." Jemma said, walking up to his desk and sharing the seat with him.

Silence.

"I don't know what to say." Jemma said, tears in her eyes.

"Me neither." Fitz said, taking her hand in his as she silently cried into his shoulder.

"It's not fair."

"I know."

"…No one's talking." Jemma said, wiping her eyes on Fitz's sleeve (he didn't object to it).

"It's hard to face everything that's happened." Fitz said.

"Do you remember when we first signed up for Coulson's team? He said it'd be dangerous. I never expected it to be heartbreaking." Jemma said, another tear falling down her cheek, Fitz wiped it away with his thumb.

"We just have to do what we always do." Fitz said.

"What's that?"

"Our best. We have to stop them."

"I'm not sure we can, Fitz." Jemma sighed sadly.

"If we give up, then…then…then they died for nothing."

"…I…I…I miss…" Jemma began before crying again, Fitz wrapping his arms around her and growing tearful himself.

"Me too." He whispered, kissing her hair as a tear fell.

"I can't lose anyone else. I won't let that happen. If anything happened to you I -"

"-Jemma, we're all safe. I'm not going anywhere. If anything we both know you'd cope better without me than if I lost you." Fitz said.

"Don't say that." Jemma said, her fingers playing with Fitz's collar.

"It's been decade already, and I wanna be stuck with you for quite a few more yet." Fitz smiled slightly.

"Me too." Jemma said happily, leaning in and kissing Fitz passionately.

"I'm still getting used to that." Fitz grinned and Jemma chuckled lightly.

"Me too." She said, fixing Fitz's hair with her index finger before kissing him again.

…

Lance barged into Coulson's office with purpose.

"I'm done just sitting around. I want payback." Lance demanded.

"We all do. We just all need more time." Coulson sighed.

"If we want closure, we have to get revenge on R.E.S.C.U.E. This is all their fault! Those imbecile's are the reason Bobbi can't go ten minutes without breaking down – and it breaks my heart to see that woman cry – and they are the reason…the reason we lost May. I'm so angry I can barely breathe!" Lance seethed, leaning against Coulson's desk for support and Coulson placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"We have to be strong right now. For the rest of the team members who can't be. Believe me, I have never felt worse or more heartbroken than I do right now, but I'm still the Director. I swear to every god there is that I will get justice for May; no one wants it more than me. I respected and adored that woman with all my heart, and I'm blaming myself for so much of what happened, but we can't just start a war and get ourselves killed; she wouldn't want that." Coulson explained timidly. Lance stood up straight and stares at him.

"This isn't okay. We need to do something."

"What do you expect me to do? Expect any of us to do? We can't bring her back. It breaks my heart, but we can't." Coulson said sadly.

"We can get revenge. We can kill them."

"I don't know how." Coulson sighed, his head in his hands.

"We'll find a way. We have to."

They walked out, leaving Coulson alone with the darkest of thoughts.

…

Daisy and Lincoln were woken from their sleep that evening by a tap on his room door, having drifted off in each other's arms after their conversation. The door slid open and Coulson walked in.

"I can come back." Coulson said.

"No, don't. It's okay." Lincoln said as he and Daisy sat up.

"…How're you two doing?" Coulson asked.

"About as well as everyone else, so not good. You shouldn't be strong just for us, Coulson, it's not fair on you." Daisy said.

"This is my fault. I went too far. I let the team take too many risks; I made calls I shouldn't have and got away with it too many times, leading me to lose one of my best agents and best friends in the world. That'll haunt me forever. That's what I came to say – Lincoln, I need you to understand this is not, and never will be, your fault." Coulson explained. Daisy let a few more tears roll down her cheeks while Lincoln desperately held his back.

"…I can't accept that." Lincoln said.

"No Lincoln, this is on me." Coulson stated.

"No, I can't accept that you're blaming yourself. This isn't on you, either. You did what you thought was right; I know that deep down, May understood that. You can't place blame on yourself." Lincoln said.

"Neither can you." Coulson said sternly.

"The blame lies with R.E.S.C.U.E., no one else. If they hadn't interfered everything would've been fine. May wouldn't want any of us to blame ourselves, okay?" Daisy said, taking one of Lincoln and Coulson's hands in hers.

"…Okay." Lincoln nodded.

Daisy gave a sympathetic look to Coulson.

"…Okay." Coulson agreed, tearing up slightly.

"…What's our next move, sir?" Daisy asked, wiping her eyes.

"You two get some rest. Fitzsimmons want me to meet them in the lab." Coulson revealed.

…

Coulson headed into the lab; as soon as Jemma saw him she tearfully ran towards him and engulfed him in a tight hug.

"You alright?" He asked her.

"Not really. You?"

"Definitely not."

"I wish there was a way to change things. Fitz and I thought about the process that returned you to life, and restored Daisy when she was shot a few years ago, but -" Jemma began.

"May told me herself she never wanted to be put through that when she had to monitor my progress and report to Fury; seeing what it did to me affected her more than she ever let on. Besides, Rage's attack on HQ destroyed everything we had on those projects." Coulson explained gently.

The two headed back over to Fitz, who was projecting a blood sample onto a holotable.

"Is this what you wanted to show me?" Coulson asked and Fitz nodded.

"We were observing this blood sample; well, multiple versions of the same blood sampled across many months, and we picked up on a minor irregularity that is only noticeable when looking at a string of samples side by side." Jemma began.

"There is a background radiation in the bloodstream itself, getting a little bit more unstable as time goes on. It matches the radiation Rage created." Fitz added.

"Who's blood is it?" Coulson asked.

"…Yours." Fitzsimmons said together, leaving Coulson shocked.

"Wait, so I'm radioactive? I have been for months? But you did tests?" Coulson asked.

"Yes! That's the beauty of it! This is radiation coming from an Inhuman, and somehow the alien blood in your system counteracted the fatal effects of it, rendering it harmless physically…but emotionally compromising, mirroring Rage's powers." Jemma explained.

"So, Rage's radiation got into my bloodstream and has been emotionally compromising me for months?" Coulson asked and Fitzsimmons nodded.

"Exactly." Fitz nodded with a smile.

"So…when the team started doubting me and I made all those decisions…"

"It was likely caused by this, yes. None of this was your fault, sir. None at all. Whether Maya or Rage did it on purpose, we'll probably never know." Jemma explained.

"We imagine it transferred into your blood via your fake hand when you shook hers to get a DNA sample when you first met in person." Fitz added.

"We're synthesising an antidote to remove it from your system; you'll start feeling normal again soon enough." Jemma smiled.

"Thought you'd like to know." Fitz said. Coulson had tears in his eyes as he pulled the two in for a hug.

"…Thank you." Coulson whispered through his tears.

…

Daisy walked down a long set of stairs to get to the very base of The Bus, where a large glass cell was built into the wall as a tiny maximum security prison. Sat inside the cell was a dishevelled Grant Ward.

"Food in about an hour." Daisy shouted to him before turning to head back up.

"What's wrong?" Ward asked, stopping Daisy in her tracks. She turned back and faced him.

"…How did you know something was wrong?" She asked.

"Your eyes. They're sadder than I've ever seen them. What's wrong, Skye?" Ward asked.

"My name is Daisy."

"…Please. I want to know what's upsetting you." Ward pleaded.

Daisy took a moment as tears started filling her eyes again.

"…May…May's dead." She choked. Ward slowly stood up, his face filled with shock.

"…When?"

"About a week ago. The day we saved your ass from Rage."

"They told me Rage was dead, but…but May? I thought that woman would live forever." Ward said.

"In a way, she will." Daisy said, wiping her eyes.

"We had our… _disagreements_ …but I still somehow managed to respect her. She was a good agent and I'm sad she's no longer with us." Ward commented.

"I'm sure you are." Daisy rolled her eyes and headed back upstairs.

"Skye?"

"What?"

Daisy looked right into Ward's eyes.

"…I really am sorry for your loss." Ward said.

Daisy nodded and headed back up the stairs. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew Ward pretty well. She knew when he was lying.

This time, he wasn't.

…

The next morning, Coulson stopped the second he walked into his office and saw Andrew sat waiting for him. This was the first time Coulson could remember in a long time that Andrew Garner wasn't dressed in a smart suit.

"Phil."

"…Andrew, I…"

"…We haven't seen each other since…since that day." Andrew said softly.

"I know. I'm sorry." Coulson apologised.

"It's okay, I know how busy you must be. We both need space to deal with…with this. Losing her." Andrew said, welling up.

"How was the grief counsellor I hired for you?" Coulson asked.

"Very good at her job, but when she says the same things I say to people they don't really have an effect on me." Andrew said with a slight chuckle.

"…I'm glad to see you can smile. At least a little bit." Coulson smiled.

"She wouldn't want me to stop smiling. She loved my smile above everything else, apparently." Andrew reminisced sadly.

"…I called Melinda's parents. They took it well, given the circumstances." Coulson reported.

"Melinda always said she got her strength from her parents; two of the strongest people she knew." Andrew explained.

"…I'm so sorry I couldn't save her, Andrew." Coulson said tearfully.

"…She always told me she wanted to go out as a hero. She did that. And she did it beautifully and to save a friend. Just make sure you catch the sons of bitches responsible." Andrew said as a tear fell and Coulson nodded.

Silence.

"She was so glad to be on your team again, Phil. She loved it. She loved it until her dying day." Andrew said and Coulson's tears returned.

"…She loved you too, Andrew."

"I didn't deserve her love. But my god, did I love that woman. Never stopped, never will." Andrew cried.

"The last thing she ever said was your name." Phil revealed. Andrew faced him as more tears fell.

"Really?" He sobbed.

"Really. She loved you till the end." Coulson smiled. Andrew turned away and took a few moments to gather himself after partly breaking down. Eventually, he moved over to the window and looked out to the sky all around the plane.

"My god, she loved flying, didn't she?" Andrew chuckled.

"Yeah, she did." Coulson smiled.

"I remember her telling me about the feeling she got, seeing the world from high up – how beautiful and peaceful it was. It made her feel alive." Andrew continued.

Coulson wiped his tears as he sat back at his desk, clocking a picture of him and May together on his desk from their younger years. He picked it up and held it close with a smile.

"She never really understood my field; psychiatry and psychology – it all went over her head for the most part. She didn't like the sentimentality of it all. She used to make fun of some of the books I'd lend to patients to read. All except one. I caught her reading it one time and she admitted she liked the message behind it." Andrew smiled as he remembered.

He looked further up into the clouds above from out the window as he continued.

"That book, the one she loved, it talked about the sky. It explained that people tend to look up to the sky to reflect on remember, whatever the weather. It said that in a way, the sky was a storage space for your memories; you just had to look up and all your dreams and all your best moments would be there for you to look up at and remember. And that no matter what happened, or where you went or how bad thing got, no one could ever take the sky from you." Andrew smiled through his pain and heartache.

"That's really quite beautiful." Coulson said.

"A suitable reflection of Melinda, then. I let her keep that book; she probably got rid of it years ago, but she seemed so happy when I gave it to her. She loved the colour of it, too; it was like…an ivy green." Andrew reminisced.

"…I'm really gonna miss her." Coulson admitted through his tears.

"…Me too. My god, me too." Andrew choked.

…

Two days later, The Bus landed on some private land unofficially owned by Nicholas J Fury; a large, beautiful field with flowers of all different colours blooming from the lush green grass. Amongst the beauty came some sadness, as a few gravestones lay side by side in the centre of the majestic landscape; a select few special S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had fallen in years gone by and given the honour of being buried in the highest rank service of memorial in the organisation's history.

May's mother and father watched sadly as Andrew, Fitz, Mack, Lance, Joey and Lincoln carried the coffin through the gorgeous flowers and lowered it into a delicately dug grave. The headstone in front of it was made of a beautiful shiny marble.

 **MELINDA MAY**

 **"The Cavalry"**

 **1968 – 2016**

 **Agent. Hero. Friend.**

After a beautiful service took place, Jemma, Daisy and Bobbi all got up, each with a white rose in hand, and walked over to the coffin. In their other hand they held a piece of paper each, and in turn gave a reading. Bobbi spoke first through her tears.

 _"Those special memories of you will always bring a smile_

 _If only I could have you back, just for a little while_

 _Then we could sit and talk again, just like we used to do_

 _You always meant so much to me, and always will do too_

 _The fact that you're no longer here will always cause me pain_

 _But you're forever in my heart - until we meet again."_

As she finished, she threw her rose gently onto the coffin as Jemma stepped forward to read her words.

 _"A million times I've needed you, a million times I cried_

 _If love alone could have saved you, you never would have died_

 _In life I loved you dearly; in death I love you still_

 _In my heart you hold a place no one else can ever fill_

 _It broke my heart to lose you, but you didn't go alone_

 _For part of me went with you, the day God took you home."_

She sobbed as she lowered her rose into the coffin. Daisy held her hand as she said her parting words.

 _"God saw you getting tired; a cure was not to be_  
 _So he put his arms around you and whispered 'come with me'_  
 _With tearful eyes we watched you and saw you fade away_  
 _Although we loved you dearly, we could not make you stay_  
 _A golden heart stopped beating, your tender hands at rest_  
 _God took you home to prove to us he only takes the best."_

As Daisy's rose glided beautifully onto the casket, the three ladies sat down as Coulson stood up, slowly making his way to the front and trying not to break down at the sight of his dearly departed friend as she prepared to rest forever.

"When we lost Melinda May, the world as we knew it shifted. It didn't make sense for her to not be here because she was taken from us too soon. Melinda May accomplished incredible things in her life, and those achievements will never be forgotten. It breaks my heart to know we can only dream of what she'd have gone on to do next. The only thing I can say for sure is that it would have been extraordinary, because Melinda didn't know how else to be but that. I've accomplished many achievements in my life that I am unbelievably proud of, but the greatest one of them all is that I can say that Melinda May was my colleague and, more importantly, my friend. My dear, dear friend. On the day she died she told me she didn't think there was anyone better to lead S.H.I.E.L.D. than me; she was wrong, because she inspired my leadership from the very beginning. Everything I do with S.H.I.E.L.D. in the future will be for Melinda May, our beautiful fallen friend. We will never forget her, and as a friend recently reminded me…all we have to do is look up to the sky, and she'll be there. Looking down on all of us, and telling us to shut up and get the hell on with it. It broke my heart to lose you, May, but I promise to never let you down again. We love you, Melinda, and we will miss you until the day we all see you again. Sleep well, May. Rest in peace."

…

Coulson had been staring at the gravestone in silence for twenty minutes. His tears had just about dried, but he knew another flood of them would come eventually. He barely registered the small footsteps walking up behind him and standing next to him.

"How're you doing?" Coulson asked with a whisper, turning to the person next to him.

"About as well as you." Jemma replied with a sniff.

Silence.

"I know how much you loved -"

"-Coulson, don't. Please. You're grieving as much as any of us."

She took Coulson's hand in hers, reading the name carved into the stone over and over, yet still not believing they were gone.

"This is my fault." Coulson said.

"Don't do that to yourself."

"I got reckless, you were all right. I should've listened but now…now it's too late to save all of you." Coulson cried almost silently.

"Sir, this isn't your fault. You know who's to blame, and we'll make them pay in every way they deserve to."

"…I thought you didn't want any more pain." Coulson sighed.

"That was before…before it ended like this." Jemma sobbed, placing a bouquet at the base of the grave.

"I'll leave you to it; I'll go and check on the others." Jemma added, squeezing Coulson's hand and walking off as more tears flowed down her cheeks.

Coulson knelt before the gravestone and lowered his head.

"I won't let this be for nothing, I swear." He swore, standing up again.

As memories entered his head and a tear left his eye, he rubbed the top of the gravestone fondly and respectfully.

"I'm so sorry."

With that, he turned and headed back. Coulson knew May would have forgiven him, but she was gone.

And for that, he would never stop blaming himself.

…

That night, as The Bus soared through the air, Coulson sat with a laptop at his desk and braced himself. Changing May's profile to 'deceased', as with any fallen agent, unlocks a pre-recorded video every agent must record in the event of their sudden death.

After a deep breath, Coulson hit play on the video and started crying the instant May's face appeared on the screen.

 _"Okay, I'm gonna make this quick. If you're watching this, then I'm…well, I'm no longer here anymore. And that's okay, as long as I went out valiantly. Part of being a good agent is willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice. Okay then. Mom, dad…I know it might have been tough at times, but I really do love you. Both of you. So much. My fellow agents – Joey, Lincoln, Mack, Bobbi, Hunter…it has been an absolute privilege to work alongside you all. I never dreamed that when I first joined this team I'd so much as find new friends. I didn't. I found a family. I found a family in all of you, and thank you. Grant Ward – go to Hell. Andrew…I know it didn't work out, but that wasn't because I didn't love you. I never stopped. I hope you find true happiness one day, whatever that means for you. Leo, Jemma – wow, it's weird using first names with you two – Fitzsimmons, you two are the sweetest, kindest people I think I've ever met. Part of me sees you as my children, and I'm so proud of how far you've come since this started…I'm sorry I won't be there to see how incredible you become. Also, if you haven't already…get your acts together and go on a date. Seriously, it drives me insane. Daisy – there are times you think of yourself as a monster. You're not. You are everything human and Inhuman should aspire to be. You are the most human of Inhumans, and I know you're going to go far. Never give in and…and just believe. And Phil…I hardly know where to begin with you. You saw my darkest day, and I honestly don't know if I've seen yours, but if I ever do, I promise to help you through it the same way you did to me. Your friendship and partnership means more to me than you'll ever know. Thank you, my friend. From the bottom of my heart. Getting me to join the team was the greatest gift anyone could ever give me. Thank you, Phil. For everything. Goodbye."_

As the video ended, Coulson sobbed into the desk for hours. For the first time, and had truly hit him that his friend was gone. And it hurt more than any weapon could.

…

Coulson rushed into the briefing room in the early hours of the next morning, have been summoned there via a red alert. The whole team were there as he ran in.

"What's going on?" Coulson demanded.

"We've got a huge problem." Mack stated.

"I couldn't sleep, so I was trailing through the CCTV footage we salvaged from the Helicarrier." Daisy explained.

"And?" Coulson asked.

"…Maya's body didn't disintegrate away. It was taken. By R.E.S.C.U.E. More soldiers managed to get there before our salvage crew." Daisy revealed.

"…W-What does this mean? So they didn't need Maya alive for their plans?" Coulson asked.

"It seems not." Joey added, worried.

"They seem pretty confident in themselves; we have CCTV from all over the city of R.E.S.C.U.E. soldiers raiding hospitals and labs gathering all sorts of chemicals with various properties." Jemma announced.

"We also spotted crates in the back of their vans; it looks like R.E.S.C.U.E. have a supply of Terrigen crystals, probably obtained from the President when Maya had him under her control.

"What do you think they're planning?" Coulson wondered nervously.

Jemma looked at Fitz, terrified.

"Based on the mass amount and variation of chemicals taken, there must be some kind of experimentation, and adding Terrigen crystals into the mix…" Fitz began.

"What?" Coulson asked.

"…We think they're trying to repeat Terrigenesis on Maya's corpse." Fitz answered.

"Which would do what?" Coulson asked.

"We have no idea." Fitz panicked.

The dread in the room was immeasurable.

…

The lifeless body lay on a cold metal table for hours before anyone entered the room. Eventually, two men in suits walked in and observed the corpse in detail.

"And it's no longer radioactive?" The first man asked.

"All clear. We had some boys run all the tests." The second replied.

"I still don't know if we should be doing this." The first said cautiously.

"This is what R.E.S.C.U.E. was founded for. We're doing what Maya always wanted us to do. Even without her we have to do our jobs as members of R.E.S.C.U.E." The second retaliated.

"I know, but I feel like we're twisting her wishes."

"If we succeed with this, we'll be in the history books."

"…Okay. Send them in. Start the experiments." The first sighed nervously. The second man picked up the walkie talkie clipped to his belt.

"Operation 284 is a go. Now we begin."

The two men looked at what remained of Maya Anderson with a sense of fear and exhilaration.

"Are we really trying this?" The second man asked. The first man nodded with a smile.

"Yep. We're gonna bring Rage back to life."


	22. Remember Me

**22: REMEMBER ME**

A few hours later, Fitzsimmons rushed back into the tightly packed briefing room, where the rest of the team were working and panicking – mostly panicking.

"We've looked through the chemicals we could identify on the CCTV that R.E.S.C.U.E. have taken, but we can't find any link between any of them. It's like they just grabbed whatever they could find." Fitz reported as he and Jemma joined the rest of the team.

"What's their plan here? What are we missing?" Coulson asked, irritated.

"Oh, no. Oh, crap." Daisy said, staring worriedly at the computer screen she was sat at.

"What is it?" Coulson asked.

"I've spent the past hour trying to make this CCTV screenshot clearer. Something about this chemical they took a crate of seemed familiar to me somehow. I managed to unscramble some pixels and change the lighting to read the writing on the tubes." Daisy explained.

"What did the tubes say?" Joey asked.

"GH.325…" Daisy revealed, looking to Coulson, whose face dropped.

"That's not possible; S.H.I.E.L.D. owned every bit of GH.325." Coulson said.

"Maybe John Garrett got one of his guys working undercover at S.H.I.E.L.D. to sneak a load out under everyone's noses a few years back? Leak it onto the black market?" Fitz speculated.

"Okay, I must be missing something. What's GH.325?" Lincoln asked.

"A drug derived from the blood of the Kree. The compound that brought me back to life and restored Daisy a few years back." Coulson revealed.

"We've been tracking the van's raid across the city via CCTV and so far they've taken more of that than any other chemical. They've taken more of that and the Terrigen crystals than anything else." Bobbi said.

"Because that's what they really wanted; they took all the other chemicals as a ruse to keep us off their scent. If they're allowing themselves to be seen and tracked on CCTV they must be carrying out their masterplan very soon. We can't have much time." Coulson said.

"So what's their ploy?" Mack wondered.

"Maya's body drained of blood when the radiation leaked out of her following her death. If they pumped GH.325 back into the body as a new source of blood -" Fitz began.

"- They could repeat Terrigenesis on the body using the crystals and…oh my god…" Jemma added.

"What would happen if they did that?" Lance asked.

"In theory, it would 'reboot' Maya, for lack of a better word, and possibly…" Jemma started.

"…Revive her." Fitz finished, fear very much present in his voice.

"Oh my god." Joey sighed in disbelief.

"Revive Maya and therefore Rage. Her dying as a human worked in their favour. If it would revive any Inhuman, it would revive one with every-changing abilities like Rage." Coulson said, shocked.

"I can't believe this." Lincoln said, shaking his head and running his hands through his hair.

"Follow the CCTV and find where the van stopped NOW." Coulson ordered, rushing out of the room as his heart started beating faster than ever.

In one fell swoop, the stakes got a lot higher.

…

Coulson was shocked to see a high priority contact was attempting to get hold of him as he paced around in his office. Pressing a button on his false hand, he was surprised to see the face of the President appear on the screen.

"Agent Coulson."

"Mr President, sir. It's been a while since we've talked face to face."

"Technically, we're still not." President Ellis remarked.

"I'm sorry I've avoided you recently, sir." Coulson sighed.

"I've been informed of the effect Rage's radiation had on you; you were not fully responsible for your actions, and neither was I." Ellis said.

"And yet we both still feel responsible anyway." Coulson said.

"…Indeed we do." Ellis sighed.

"My team are tracking R.E.S.C.U.E.'s location now. They're planning to revive Rage – for what exact purpose is unknown. But we can't have a lot of time." Coulson explained.

"…Oh, dear God. I ordered the termination of R.E.S.C.U.E. as soon as Maya Anderson went on the run. I can't believe I let her get in my head so easily." Ellis said.

"You were far from the only victim, sir; it wasn't your fault." Coulson said.

"We had one hell of a time covering up the Helicarrier falling into the ocean without outing S.H.I.E.L.D. still exits; we had to get the Avengers to blame a training session gone horribly wrong. What if stopping R.E.S.C.U.E. leads to something we can't cover up?" Ellis asked.

"…There's no choice here; we have to take that risk."

"You're a good man, Coulson. And a good leader, and agent. I know S.H.I.E.L.D. can finally end this madness once and for all." Ellis said.

"Yes, sir."

"Kick their asses, Phil. For humanity. And for Agent Melinda May." Ellis stated.

Coulson nodded firmly as tears formed in his eyes.

…

A few minutes later, Mack rushed into Coulson's office.

"We've got a location. The van stopped outside a warehouse on the edge of Manhattan. R.E.S.C.U.E. soldiers started unloading the stolen items inside; only the crystals and GH.325, though – we were right, those are all they were after." Mack reported.

"Good. Tell the new designated pilot the coordinates and let's get this done." Coulson ordered. Mack nodded and ran off.

Coulson took a deep breath before following behind.

…

As The Bus flew to its destination, Coulson gathered the now prepped team in the hangar awaiting deployment.

"From this point on there are no second chances. This is our last stand. Letting R.E.S.C.U.E. revive Rage is not an option, and we can't let a single one of them get away – take that how you will. It's been a hellish journey leading to this point, but I strongly believe we're stronger than ever. Rage injured some of our loved ones, and we've seen them come back stronger for it. R.E.S.C.U.E. took our friend from us, and Melinda May's memory will keep us fighting until this is done. We will not allow her to have died for nothing. Everything that happens now happens in her name, and her legacy. There's no way we're letting her down." Coulson said passionately, the team nodding along as they grew tearful.

"Get ready for landing. They'll know we're there before they see is; they'll have chance to prepare and have a home advantage." Coulson added before his false hand started beeping.

"What's that?" Lance asked.

"An alarm from the cell room. Seems like Ward wants a word." Coulson said sternly.

…

"I want to help you."

Coulson chuckled at Ward's words.

"I'm serious; you dressed in your tactical gear, The Bus' speed clearly increasing rapidly – we're heading somewhere for a mission. And I want to help." Ward explained.

"We tracked R.E.S.C.U.E.; they're planning to revive Rage with the chemicals that brought me back." Coulson explain and Ward's face filled with dread.

"Now you have to let me help. You know how good I am in combat." Ward argued.

"You honestly believe I could trust you running loose in the field? You could kill us all and run away." Coulson retaliated.

"I won't, I swear it. I need to help you with this."

"Why?"

"Rage hunted me; left me in a state of fear for months. With Rage dead – hopefully permanently – R.E.S.C.U.E. are the ones I blame for it. I want to take them down for what they've done. I respected May; I would fight in honour of her, too. I want to see this horrific chapter in my life through to the end. I want…closure. You know I'm telling the truth, Coulson. I'm begging you." Ward pleaded.

Coulson stood silently staring at him for a short while then sighed.

"You were an explosive vest in the field; one wrong move I blow you to pieces." Coulson stated.

"Fine." Ward nodded.

"In that case…suit up."

…

When Coulson and Ward returned to the hangar, Andrew was stood with the team to wave them off. Everyone turned and pointed their guns at Ward.

"Nice to know how popular I am." Ward smiled.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mack demanded.

"Ward wants to help us stop R.E.S.C.U.E., and I've studied this man a lot since I realised what he truly was. His logic makes sense when it comes to this. If he makes one wrong move I have a detonator that blows him sky high. He's on our side for this." Coulson explained. Eventually, everyone lowered their weapons.

"Dr Garner, I'm sorry for your loss." Ward said to Andrew.

"Don't talk to me again." Andrew snapped.

The Bus slowed down as it began its descent onto its destination. Andrew took a step forward.

"Melinda loved being a part of this team, and she loved every single one of you." Andrew smiled. He turned to Ward.

"She hated you."

"Probably fair." Ward whispered.

"And if there's one thing I know she'd want you to do, it's to not let this mission go unfinished. Never give in. For her. Make her proud." Andrew added as a tear fell down his cheek.

"Here we go!" Coulson shouted as the large hangar door opened and the team were met with the sight of the warehouse as The Bus got closer and closer to the ground. A strong breeze filled the room as Andrew backed away, silently cheering the team on.

Jemma grabbed Fitz's hand and took him to the side.

"Just…be careful, okay? You're still healing." Jemma said softly. Fitz took her hands in his.

"I promise. You be careful, too okay?" Fitz asked and Jemma nodded.

"…I love you."

Fitz grinned.

"I love you too."

He leant in and kissed Jemma passionately before the two re-joined the rest of the team.

"3…2…1…GO!" Mack shouted as he led the charge off of The Bus and into the warehouse.

…

In the middle of the cold, darkened warehouse, thirty of forty R.E.S.C.U.E. soldiers, scientists and general operatives were gathered. Maya's body lay on a metal table, all surrounded by heavy machinery of some kind. Several tubes had been inserted into the corpse, and R.E.S.C.U.E. had already started the process of pumping GH.325 into its system.

"What are the guys in charge even gonna do if this works?" One R.E.S.C.U.E. soldier asked as he observed the scientists at work.

"Apparently, they're gonna lock it up and train it over time to do missions for them; assassinate powerful people and that sorta thing. A one-man army." Another soldier responded.

"I don't think that's what Maya Anderson meant when she wanted to use Inhumans to make the world better."

"Who cares? If we don't help, they'll kill our families, remember?"

"That's 1.4 gallons running through her system. Should be enough." One scientist declared.

"Let's do this. Operation 284 is ready to begin. Everybody get well back and stay away until the gas clears!" Another scientist shouted, throwing a Terrigen crystal next to Maya's body. As the gas surrounded the corpse, it slowly turned into stone as it spread across the whole body.

"I think it's working!" A third scientist declared.

"What's that?" A soldier asked, hearing the sound of The Bus landing.

"It's S.H.I.E.L.D.! They found us! Everyone prepare to engage! Protect the target at all costs!" Another soldier ordered. The scientists headed for the back of the room as the many soldiers spaced out and cocked their weapons.

After a moment a silence, the doors flew off their hinges and knocked five soldiers to the floor following a shockwave from Daisy. The rest of the team rushed in and gunfire immediately filled the place.

"You all chose the wrong people to follow after Maya went on the run! This was not what she wanted R.E.S.C.U.E. to be." Coulson shouted as he hid behind a crate, taking the occasional shot at some soldiers.

"No, it'll be better!" A soldier shouted, charging at Coulson and firing their gun at the same time. A bolt of electricity from Lincoln sent them flying across the room and crashing into the wall.

"Their guns are plastic, not metal; I can't do anything to stop them." Joey warned.

"You can shoot." Bobbi said, handing him a spare gun as the team continued spreading out across the room.

"Terrigenesis has already been performed!" Jemma shouted above the hailstorm of bullets as she looked over to Maya's body.

"We don't have long, sir!" Fitz shouted.

At that very moment, some of the rock around Maya began to crumble away. As the substance fell from her face, Maya slowly opened her eyes, which were the original jet black Rage's were in its prime.

"Attack!" Coulson ordered. The team all got out from cover and shot at some soldiers, taking many of them down.

Bobbi leapt over a crate and kicked one soldier to the floor. Ward shot three soldiers in the chest and rushed over to check on them; one of them was still breathing, so Ward snapped their neck.

Lance took another two out, running out of bullets as a third came up behind him. A stray bullet from behind took the soldier out; Lance looked in the direction it came from and saw Ward waving at him.

"You're welcome."

"Piss off."

More rock crumbled away from Maya as she slowly stretched her fingers out and felt the edge of the table she lay on with her fingertips. Her body suddenly began flinching as rock started protruding from her body and the skin on her legs started to turn navy blue.

Several group of soldiers kicked some crates, sending all of the team flying across the room. As they all got up, they found themselves completely surrounded.

"Drop your weapons. Now." A soldier ordered. Everyone but Ward obeyed.

"Ward…" Coulson ordered. Ward looked at him angrily, then reluctantly threw his gun to the floor.

"One step from anyone and we gun you down." Another soldier smirked.

Everyone looked over to Maya, whose bottom half was now navy blue and her fingers were staring to grow into claws. Her head flinched from side to side, stopping when she made eye contact with Coulson; he could have sworn she recognised him in that moment.

"…Lincoln." Daisy whispered. Lincoln, who was standing behind her, leant forward.

"…That thing we've been practicing…?" Daisy added.

"We can't. It's too dangerous." Lincoln whispered.

"The team have non-conductive armour on. It's our only way out." Daisy replied.

"…Okay." Lincoln nodded, taking a step back.

A moment.

"…EVERYBODY DOWN!" Daisy shouted. The team fell to the floor as she leaped into the air and sent a pulse into the floor, cracking the concrete all around her and sending the soldiers falling to the floor and laying on the cracks she had formed. Lincoln punched the same area Daisy had landed; bolts lit up the cracks and sent a massive electric shock into the soldiers, knocking them all out.

The team all stood up, shocked and in awe.

"…What was that?" Jemma asked.

"We're calling it a 'static quake' for the time being." Lincoln nodded proudly.

The team picked up their weapons and aimed them at the scientists at the end of the warehouse; they all raised their hands in the air as Coulson rushed over to Maya, who continued to flinch as her transformation took hold.

"Maya, it's me. It's Phil." Coulson said.

Reluctantly, Coulson placed his hand gently on top of Maya's. After a while, her body calmed and her jet black eyes looked into Coulson's as a tear fell down her cheek.

"I don't want to be like this anymore. Please. I was with them. Glenn and Kaiden. They were calling for me. I was home. Bring me home, Phil." She whispered through her tears.

"Bring me back to them. Bring me home." She added.

"…I'm so sorry, Maya." Coulson said, crying silently as he placed his gun on Maya's abdomen and fired a single shot. Maya's body stiffened as the jet black faded from her eyes and her skin returned to normal.

"…Thank you." She smiled, holding Coulson's hand before slipping away, finally and truly at peace.

As a soldier came to, Lance grabbed him and held him against the wall.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't _really_ hurt you right now." Lance demanded.

"No, p-please…they made me work for them, I swear. Some of them enjoyed it but a few of us…they said they'd kill our families if we didn't comply." The soldier explained.

"I'm having a hard time believing you."

"No, I-I can give you the names of the new guys in charge; they elected themselves into power after Maya went on the run. I'll tell you everything I know; quite a few of us will. P-Please." The soldier begged.

Lance looked at Coulson, who nodded. Lance let the soldier go and he sank to the floor.

"I'm…I'm s-sorry." He sobbed to himself.

Coulson looked around to see most of the injured soldiers had come to and were looking at him, the innocence and fear in their eyes plain to see.

At long last, it was over.

…

Every R.E.S.C.U.E. worker was taken into custody; those who proved their families were being threatened were released and allowed to go home and hug their wives and children again. Those who worked for them because they believed in their ideals were imprisoned.

Valuable information from many sources named the three new self-elected heads of R.E.S.C.U.E., former members who served under Maya than twisted her view for their own gain; they wanted power, nothing more. They were all put on trial and found guilty, incarcerated for the rest of their lives. All of this, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existence was still managed to be kept a secret; Lance was annoyed when the news praised the police's efforts in saving the day, but everyone talked him round eventually.

"Congratulations Coulson, you and your team did a phenomenal job." President Ellis smiled as he appeared on the screen in Coulson's office once again.

"Thank you, Mr President." Coulson smiled.

"What will you all be doing next?" Ellis asked. Coulson chuckled.

"…I think we've all earned a little break, sir."

…

"It's lovely, Phil. She'd be so honoured." Andrew smiled as he stood with Coulson and the rest of the team in the living area.

Drilled into the wall was a shiny metallic plaque, with ten words lovingly carved into it.

 **MELINDA MAY**

 **Loved and missed always.**

 **Our inspiration. Our friend.**

"She'll never leave this place, or this team. I can promise you that." Coulson said emotionally, shaking Andrew's hand.

"So, what do we do now?" Jemma asked as she finished drying her eyes.

"I can't see any threats coming our way in the near future that we can't leave to The Avengers. I'm temporarily disbanding S.H.I.E.L.D.; everyone gets a month of. I think we've all earned it. And I promise I won't call you in after eight days like the last time I did this." Coulson smiled and the team all laughed as they walked off, excitedly chatting about what they were going to do with their time off.

"Thank you Phil, for everything." Andrew smiled.

"Thank _you_. What will you do now?" Coulson asked.

"Checking in on Melinda's parents for a few days, then…well, I guess I'll go home and do what she'd want me to do…get the hell on with it." Andrew chuckled lightly.

"Take it easy, Andrew." Coulson said, pulling him into a hug before handing him something from a nearby table.

"I thought you'd like this. May had it in her locker." Coulson smiled as he gave Andrew the ivy green psychiatry book Andrew had told him she loved. Tears filled his eyes as he held it in his hands.

"She actually kept it."

"She did." Coulson smiled, gripping Andrew's shoulder respectfully before walking off with a smile.

Andrew opened the book as he walked over to the window, crying silently as he read what he'd written on the inside cover years ago.

 _'My Melinda,_

 _Look up at the sky, and I'll be there._

 _Your Andrew, always.'_

Andrew looked out the window and up to the blue sky above.

"I love you, Melinda." He whispered with a smile.

…

Coulson dropped a brown envelope at the base of the cell. From inside it, Ward looked confused.

"What's that?" Ward asked.

"A gift for you to take. We're all heading to the airport and you'll be accompanying us." Coulson said.

"What's in it?"

"Money. Enough for a plane ticket to wherever you want to go." Coulson said. Ward looked at him in disbelief.

"You kept to your word, and you haven't been a problem for us for a long while now. I'll never forgive you for betraying my team, you better understand that. You get on a plane and make sure none of us see you again. Understood?" Coulson asked.

"Understood." Ward said. Coulson unlocked the cell and began walking up the stairs as Ward picked up the envelope.

"Coulson? Thank you."

"…Go to hell, Grant."

Grant smiled as he watched Coulson go.

…

Everyone stood in the busy airport as they prepared to part ways for their separate flights.

"So, where are you off to?" Daisy asked Joey, who smiled.

"Home. This guy at my local coffee place has been asking me out for months. I can finally say yes without being worried about rushing off suddenly for a mission this time." Joey explained happily.

"Good for you." Daisy laughed.

"What about you?" Joey asked.

"Me and this one are going backpacking around Japan." Daisy smiled, playfully elbowing Lincoln.

"I already regret this decision." Lincoln teased, kissing the top of Daisy's head.

"Where are you off to, Mack?" Bobbi asked.

"I'm going home too. It's about time I spent some quality time with my brother." Mack smiled.

"Sounds good to me. I'm being dragged to Mexico." Lance sighed playfully as he took Bobbi's hand.

"We never actually had a proper honeymoon; now we have the chance to have one." Bobbi explained happily, smiling at Lance.

"What are the lovebirds doing then?" Mack teased as everyone looked at Fitzsimmons. Jemma giggled as Fitz looked at the floor, embarrassed.

"Well, first we're spending a week in Scotland with Leo's mum, then driving down and spending a week with my mum and dad, and then jetting off for two weeks in the Seychelles." Jemma revealed excitedly as she squeezed Fitz's hand.

"She wants to go snorkelling." Fitz added.

"You'll enjoy it, I promise." Jemma said.

"I know I will, you'll be there." Fitz smiled. Jemma kissed him as everyone else rolled their eyes and laughed.

"Get me a bucket." Lance joked.

Coulson walked over to the group and smiled at them all.

"Ward got on a plane okay then?" Bobbi asked.

"Yep. Let's hope I don't regret that decision." Coulson confirmed.

"What're you gonna do now?" Daisy asked.

"First I have a week of treatment to get Rage's radiation out of my system. Then I thought it's about time I actually did go to Tahiti." Coulson smiled.

"Well, you enjoy it, sir." Joey said.

"I will. All of you, have the time of your lives. I'll see you soon." Coulson smiled, hugging the team in turn as the all split off into tiny groups to catch their flights. Coulson, however, returned to The Bus; before his holiday could begin, he had a few people to say goodbye to.

…

Coulson laid a white rose at the shiny new headstone at a local cemetery.

 **MAYA ANDERSON**

 **With her family again.**

Coulson had arranged for Maya to be buried next to her husband and son. A lot of local people came to her funeral, realising that in the long run she'd been a victim of hate and the cruelty of life. She didn't deserve any of what happened to her.

"Sleep well, Maya." Coulson whispered, nodding respectfully before walking off to let her rest begin. She was home.

…

"Well, I better get going. You'd want me to enjoy my holiday when I rarely had one." Coulson smiled as he stood at the resting place of Melinda May.

"I'll see you again soon. Don't think you can get rid of me that easily." He added with a chuckle as he placed a new bouquet of flowers by the gravestone.

"I won't let you down, May. I'll never stop fighting. And I'll never forget. I promise."

He looked up at the sky, thinking of what Andrew had told him about the book May loved. The memories he had of her could never be taken from him.

"I'll see you again."

He let a tear fall as he respectfully laid his hand on top of the headstone.

"Goodnight, Melinda."

Slowly, he lifted his hand up to his forehead and gave a salute. After a moment of silence, he lowered his hand, smiled and walked off into the distance.

Melinda May's story was over, but her legacy was just beginning.

…

Coulson stared out the window happily as the plane to Tahiti took off. With the radiation out of his system, he could finally let go of the horrors S.H.I.E.L.D.'s latest mission had thrust upon him and his team.

Despite all they'd been through, however, Coulson knew that when they all came back together, they'd be better men and women, better agents and better people. S.H.I.E.L.D. will never have been stronger, and Coulson was proud to be leading his team into whatever faced them next.

It didn't matter if it was to be a bomb threat or an alien invasion or galactic catastrophe; Coulson knew his team could take it. As long as they remember what they'd been through together, they'd made it. And they would never forget; their memories were waiting for them whenever they looked up at the sky.

And you can't take the sky from them.


End file.
